CVE-2020-11663 in API Developer Portal
Summary
by MITRE
CA API Developer Portal 4.3.1 and earlier handles 404 requests in an insecure manner, which allows attackers to perform open redirect attacks.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/07/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-11663 affects CA API Developer Portal versions 4.3.1 and earlier, presenting a significant security risk through improper handling of 404 HTTP status responses. This flaw enables malicious actors to exploit the application's redirect mechanism by crafting specific requests that trigger unauthorized redirects to attacker-controlled domains. The insecure handling of 404 responses creates an attack vector where the system fails to properly validate or sanitize redirect destinations, allowing arbitrary URL redirection that can be leveraged for phishing attacks, credential theft, or malware distribution.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to validate redirect parameters when processing 404 errors. When a user requests a non-existent resource, the portal's response mechanism does not adequately filter or verify the target URL before executing a redirect operation. This behavior aligns with CWE-601 Open Redirect vulnerability classification, where applications fail to validate redirect destinations and allow attackers to craft URLs that redirect users to malicious websites. The flaw operates at the application logic level where input validation is insufficient during error handling processes, creating a direct pathway for attackers to manipulate the redirect behavior through crafted request parameters.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses substantial risk to organizations using CA API Developer Portal as it enables sophisticated social engineering attacks. Attackers can construct malicious URLs that appear legitimate within the portal context, potentially fooling users into visiting harmful sites that host phishing pages or malware. The impact extends beyond simple redirection as it can be combined with other attack vectors to create more complex threats, including credential harvesting through phishing campaigns or delivery of malicious payloads. The vulnerability affects the portal's integrity and user trust, potentially compromising sensitive API access tokens and developer credentials that may be exposed during the redirect process.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including input validation for all redirect parameters, implementing strict URL validation mechanisms that reject external domains, and applying the latest security patches provided by CA Technologies. The solution involves configuring the application to only allow redirects to internal, trusted domains or implementing a whitelist approach for redirect destinations. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing web application firewalls with redirect validation capabilities and conduct thorough security testing to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of their API management infrastructure. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper error handling and input validation as outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and ATT&CK framework's T1566 technique for Phishing, emphasizing the need for comprehensive application security controls to prevent unauthorized redirects that can compromise user security.