CVE-2020-4699 in Security Access Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 10/12/2020
IBM Security Access Manager 9.0.7 and IBM Security Verify Access 10.0.0 could allow an attacker to obtain sensitive using timing side channel attacks which could aid in further attacks against the system. IBM X-Force ID: 186947.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/18/2020
IBM Security Access Manager version 9.0.7 and IBM Security Verify Access version 10.0.0 contain a timing side channel vulnerability that enables attackers to infer sensitive information through measurement of response times during authentication processes. This weakness falls under the CWE-347 category of insecure cryptographic implementation, specifically related to timing attacks that exploit variations in processing time to deduce cryptographic keys or authentication credentials. The vulnerability represents a significant security risk as it allows adversaries to perform credential guessing attacks with reduced computational overhead compared to traditional brute force methods.
The technical flaw manifests when the authentication system exhibits differential response times based on whether authentication attempts succeed or fail. Attackers can monitor these timing variations to determine the correctness of their guesses, effectively using timing information as a side channel to bypass normal authentication mechanisms. This vulnerability particularly affects the password verification process where successful and failed authentication attempts produce measurable time differences in system responses. The attack vector operates through network-based probing where malicious actors repeatedly submit authentication requests while measuring response latencies to correlate timing patterns with successful credential guesses.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential theft as it provides attackers with a foothold for more sophisticated attacks within the security infrastructure. An attacker who successfully exploits this timing side channel could potentially gain unauthorized access to protected resources, escalate privileges, or conduct further reconnaissance against the system. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in environments where authentication systems are under heavy load or when attackers have the ability to perform multiple concurrent authentication attempts. This weakness can be leveraged to compromise the integrity of the entire access management framework, potentially affecting thousands of users and applications that rely on the affected systems for authentication.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including enabling constant-time cryptographic operations, implementing rate limiting for authentication attempts, and deploying additional monitoring for unusual timing patterns in authentication requests. The mitigation strategies should align with the ATT&CK framework's credential access techniques, specifically targeting T1110.003 for credential guessing and T1214 for credential dumping. Security teams should also consider implementing additional authentication layers such as multi-factor authentication to reduce the impact of credential compromise. Regular security assessments should be conducted to identify similar timing vulnerabilities in other cryptographic implementations, as this class of weakness is commonly found in systems that do not properly implement constant-time algorithms for cryptographic operations.