CVE-2020-4969 in Security Identity Governance and Intelligence
Summary
by MITRE • 01/21/2021
IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence 5.2.6 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information, caused by the failure to properly enable HTTP Strict Transport Security. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to obtain sensitive information using man in the middle techniques.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/19/2021
IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence version 5.2.6 contains a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of communications between clients and the server through improper implementation of HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) mechanisms. This vulnerability falls under the category of insufficient transport layer protection as defined by CWE-319, where the application fails to enforce secure communication channels that would normally prevent attackers from intercepting or manipulating data in transit. The absence of proper HSTS headers creates an exploitable condition that allows adversaries to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by manipulating the HTTP protocol to downgrade connections from HTTPS to HTTP, thereby exposing sensitive authentication credentials, session tokens, and other confidential information.
The technical implementation flaw occurs when the system fails to include the HSTS header in HTTP responses, which should contain directives such as 'strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload' to instruct browsers to only communicate via secure HTTPS connections for a specified duration. Without this security mechanism, attackers can exploit the initial HTTP connection to intercept and modify traffic, potentially capturing user credentials, personal data, or administrative access tokens that would otherwise be protected by encryption. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1046 which involves network service scanning and exploitation of weak transport security protocols.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it creates an attack surface that enables more sophisticated exploitation techniques including session hijacking, credential theft, and potential lateral movement within compromised networks. Attackers can leverage this weakness to establish persistent access points, particularly in environments where users may be prompted to enter sensitive information through web interfaces that are not properly secured. Organizations utilizing this version of IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence face significant risk of unauthorized access to identity management systems, potentially leading to privilege escalation, data breaches, and compromise of entire authentication infrastructures. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal sophistication and can be automated, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network monitoring is insufficient.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate implementation of proper HSTS header configuration across all web applications and services, ensuring that the security headers include appropriate max-age values, subdomain inclusion, and preload directives. Organizations must also implement comprehensive network monitoring to detect and prevent protocol downgrades, deploy automated patch management processes to address the underlying vulnerability, and conduct regular security assessments to identify similar misconfigurations across the entire infrastructure. Additionally, implementing certificate pinning mechanisms and ensuring all communication channels utilize TLS 1.2 or higher protocols will provide additional layers of protection against similar transport layer security weaknesses. The remediation process should include thorough testing of HSTS implementation to ensure that existing sessions are properly handled and that the security headers are consistently applied across all application components.