CVE-2021-27751 in Commerce
Summary
by MITRE • 05/06/2022
HCL Commerce is affected by an Insufficient Session Expiration vulnerability. After the session expires, in some circumstances, parts of the application are still accessible.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-27751 affects HCL Commerce platforms and represents a critical session management weakness that undermines the application's authentication and authorization controls. This issue falls under the broader category of insufficient session expiration flaws, which are classified as CWE-613 and specifically align with ATT&CK technique T1548.001 for abuse of privileges through session management. The vulnerability manifests when the application fails to properly terminate user sessions according to configured expiration policies, creating a window of opportunity for unauthorized access to protected resources.
The technical flaw in HCL Commerce stems from improper session invalidation mechanisms that allow certain application components to remain accessible even after the session has logically expired. This occurs due to inadequate session tracking and cleanup procedures within the application's security architecture. When users log out or when sessions expire based on configured timeout parameters, the system should ensure that all associated access tokens, session identifiers, and cached authentication states are completely invalidated. However, in this case, some parts of the application maintain access permissions beyond the established session boundaries, creating a persistent security risk.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to potentially enable more sophisticated attacks such as session hijacking, privilege escalation, and data breaches. Attackers can exploit this weakness to maintain access to sensitive administrative functions, customer data, or business-critical systems long after legitimate users have logged out. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates silently without alerting administrators to the compromise, making detection and remediation more challenging. Organizations relying on HCL Commerce for e-commerce operations face increased risk of financial loss, regulatory violations, and reputational damage when this vulnerability is exploited.
Security mitigations for CVE-2021-27751 should focus on comprehensive session management improvements including immediate implementation of proper session invalidation protocols, enhanced session timeout configurations, and robust session tracking mechanisms. Organizations should ensure that all session cleanup procedures are thoroughly tested and validated across different application components and integration points. The fix requires complete removal of session identifiers from memory, database records, and any caching layers when sessions expire. Additionally, implementing session monitoring and alerting systems can help detect anomalous access patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security testing including penetration testing and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to verify that session expiration mechanisms function correctly and that no remnants of expired sessions persist in accessible application components.