CVE-2020-4611 in Data Risk Manager
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Data Risk Manager (iDNA) 2.0.6 could allow an authenticated user to bypass security and execute actions reserved for admins. IBM X-Force ID: 184922.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/23/2020
IBM Data Risk Manager version 2.0.6 contains a critical authorization bypass vulnerability that allows authenticated users to escalate their privileges and execute administrative actions. This flaw resides in the application's access control mechanisms, specifically within the role-based access control (RBAC) implementation that should prevent regular users from performing privileged operations. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of user permissions during critical administrative function calls, enabling malicious or compromised authenticated users to bypass normal security boundaries and gain unauthorized administrative access. This issue represents a classic privilege escalation vulnerability that directly violates the principle of least privilege and can be categorized under CWE-285: Improper Authorization.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an authenticated user attempts to access administrative functions through the application's web interface or API endpoints. The system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user possesses the necessary administrative privileges before executing sensitive operations such as user management, configuration changes, or data access modifications. This weakness allows an attacker to manipulate request parameters or directly call administrative APIs without proper authentication checks, effectively elevating their privileges from standard user to administrator level. The vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including web application interfaces, REST API calls, or potentially through session manipulation techniques that leverage the existing authenticated session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and can result in complete system compromise when exploited by malicious actors. An authenticated user with normal privileges can gain full administrative control over the IBM Data Risk Manager environment, potentially leading to data exfiltration, system modification, user account manipulation, and complete disruption of the security controls. This vulnerability undermines the entire security architecture of the application and can enable attackers to establish persistent access, modify sensitive data, or disable security features. The impact extends beyond immediate privilege escalation as it can facilitate lateral movement within the network and provide attackers with access to other systems that may rely on the compromised Data Risk Manager for security orchestration.
Organizations using IBM Data Risk Manager 2.0.6 should immediately apply the vendor-provided security patches and updates to remediate this vulnerability. The mitigation strategy should include implementing network segmentation to limit access to the application, monitoring for suspicious administrative activity, and conducting thorough security assessments of the environment. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing additional controls such as multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts, enhanced logging and monitoring of administrative functions, and regular security audits of access controls. This vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK tactics including privilege escalation and defense evasion, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where it could be used to maintain persistent access and avoid detection. The affected system should also undergo comprehensive security hardening to prevent similar authorization bypass issues in other components of the security infrastructure.