CVE-2022-0857 in ePolicy Orchestrator
Summary
by MITRE • 03/23/2022
A reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in McAfee Enterprise ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) prior to 5.10 Update 13 allows a remote attacker to potentially obtain access to an ePO administrator's session by convincing the attacker to click on a carefully crafted link. This would lead to limited access to sensitive information and limited ability to alter some information in ePO due to the area of the User Interface the vulnerability is present in.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/25/2022
The reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-0857 affects McAfee Enterprise ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) versions prior to 5.10 Update 13, representing a critical security flaw that exposes administrators to potential session hijacking attacks. This vulnerability resides within the web interface of the ePO platform, specifically in areas where user input is not properly sanitized before being reflected back to the browser, creating an exploitable vector for malicious actors to execute unauthorized actions within the context of an authenticated administrator session.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the ePO web application. When a user clicks on a maliciously crafted link containing crafted script payloads, the ePO application fails to properly sanitize the input parameters before rendering them in the browser response. This allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the context of the victim's browser session, potentially enabling session takeover and unauthorized administrative actions. The vulnerability maps to CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws where untrusted data is improperly incorporated into web pages without proper validation or encoding.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft, as it grants attackers the ability to manipulate sensitive information within the ePO environment and potentially escalate their privileges through administrative session compromise. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to access restricted administrative functions, modify security policies, and potentially gain access to confidential data managed by the ePO platform. The limited scope of the vulnerability's impact on information alteration suggests that while attackers cannot fully compromise the system, they can perform specific administrative actions that may affect system integrity and security posture. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001, which describes the use of spearphishing attacks to gain initial access, and T1078.004, which covers legitimate credentials use for persistence and privilege escalation.
Organizations utilizing affected ePO versions face significant risk exposure from this vulnerability, particularly given that the attack requires minimal user interaction beyond clicking a malicious link. The vulnerability's remote nature means attackers can exploit it from anywhere on the internet, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with remote workers or those operating in environments where users may encounter untrusted links. Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate deployment of McAfee's official patches and updates, specifically targeting 5.10 Update 13 or later versions that contain the necessary security fixes. Additional defensive measures include implementing web application firewalls, establishing strict input validation policies, and conducting regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities in other web applications within the organization's infrastructure. Network monitoring should also be enhanced to detect suspicious traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing comprehensive input validation across all web applications to prevent similar reflected XSS attacks that could compromise administrative access and sensitive system data.