CVE-2021-20474 in Guardium Data Encryption
Summary
by MITRE • 07/07/2021
IBM Guardium Data Encryption (GDE) 3.0.0.2 and 4.0.0.4 does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/10/2021
IBM Guardium Data Encryption version 3.0.0.2 and 4.0.0.4 contains a critical authentication vulnerability that fundamentally undermines the security posture of the system. This flaw resides in the platform's failure to implement proper authentication mechanisms for critical functions that require verified user identities or consume substantial system resources. The vulnerability represents a direct violation of fundamental security principles and creates an attack surface where unauthorized actors can exploit the system without proper authorization. The absence of authentication for resource-intensive operations particularly exposes the platform to abuse scenarios where malicious users could consume excessive computational resources or perform privileged actions without verification. This weakness allows for potential privilege escalation and unauthorized access to sensitive data protection mechanisms within the encryption framework.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access control design within the Guardium Data Encryption system. When functions require provable user identity or consume significant resources, the system should enforce authentication protocols to validate the legitimacy of the requesting entity. However, the current implementation fails to establish these authentication checkpoints, leaving critical system components accessible to any user who can interact with the platform. This design flaw aligns with CWE-287, which addresses improper authentication issues in software systems. The vulnerability specifically impacts the system's ability to maintain integrity and confidentiality controls, as unauthorized users can potentially manipulate encryption processes or access sensitive administrative functions without proper authorization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to encompass potential system compromise and data exposure. Attackers exploiting this weakness could consume excessive system resources, potentially leading to denial of service conditions that affect legitimate users. Additionally, the lack of authentication for resource-consuming functions creates opportunities for abuse where malicious actors might launch resource exhaustion attacks against the encryption system. The vulnerability also poses significant risks to data protection integrity since unauthorized users could potentially interfere with encryption processes or access encryption keys and sensitive data handling mechanisms. This scenario directly conflicts with the core purpose of data encryption systems, which must maintain strict access controls to protect sensitive information. The impact is particularly severe given that Guardium Data Encryption is designed to protect sensitive data assets, making this authentication failure a critical threat to overall security.
Organizations utilizing these vulnerable versions of IBM Guardium Data Encryption should immediately implement mitigations to address this authentication gap. The primary recommendation involves implementing additional access controls and authentication mechanisms at the system level to validate user identities before granting access to critical functions. Security administrators should review and strengthen authentication policies, ensuring that all operations requiring proven user identity or consuming significant resources are properly authenticated. This includes implementing multi-factor authentication for administrative functions and establishing proper access logging to detect unauthorized access attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of following security best practices such as those outlined in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly in the privilege escalation and defense evasion categories where lack of proper authentication creates exploitable conditions. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and monitoring controls to detect anomalous resource consumption patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar authentication gaps in other system components and ensure comprehensive protection against this class of vulnerability.