CVE-2021-20432 in Spectrum Protect Plus
Summary
by MITRE • 04/26/2021
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.0 through 10.1.7 uses Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) which could allow an attacker to carry out privileged actions and retrieve sensitive information as the domain name is not being limited to only trusted domains. IBM X-Force ID: 196344.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/30/2021
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus version 10.1.0 through 10.1.7 contains a critical cross-origin resource sharing vulnerability that fundamentally undermines the security boundaries of the application. This flaw stems from improper implementation of CORS policies where the system fails to restrict domain origins to only trusted sources, creating an avenue for sophisticated cross-site request forgery attacks. The vulnerability allows malicious actors to exploit the lack of origin validation by crafting requests from unauthorized domains that can execute privileged operations within the context of authenticated users. This weakness directly maps to CWE-346 known as "Origin Validation Error" which represents a critical flaw in web application security where applications fail to properly validate the origin of incoming requests. The attack vector leverages the browser's same-origin policy bypass mechanism, enabling attackers to make authenticated requests to the vulnerable system from malicious domains while maintaining the authenticated session of legitimate users.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure to encompass full privilege escalation capabilities within the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this CORS misconfiguration can perform administrative functions, access sensitive backup data, modify system configurations, and potentially exfiltrate protected information without detection. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the network level where authenticated sessions are already established, making it difficult to distinguish between legitimate and malicious requests. This creates a persistent threat vector that can be exploited across multiple user sessions and can remain undetected for extended periods. The IBM X-Force ID 196344 further emphasizes the severity of this weakness by indicating that it represents a well-documented attack pattern that has been actively exploited in the wild, suggesting that threat actors are actively targeting this specific vulnerability.
Security practitioners should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability while acknowledging that the root cause lies in the application's CORS configuration. The primary mitigation strategy involves implementing strict origin validation by configuring the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header to explicitly list only trusted domains rather than using wildcards or allowing all origins. Organizations should also deploy Content Security Policy headers to further restrict resource loading and implement proper input validation for all CORS-related headers. Additionally, network-level controls such as web application firewalls should be configured to monitor and block suspicious cross-origin requests that attempt to access privileged endpoints. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of following secure coding practices and implementing proper CORS policies as outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and NIST cybersecurity guidelines. This weakness also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering tactics including the exploitation of web application vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to systems and data. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to verify that CORS configurations are properly implemented and that no additional origin validation bypasses exist within the application architecture.