CVE-2022-22476 in WebSphere Application Server Liberty
Summary
by MITRE • 07/08/2022
IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty 17.0.0.3 through 22.0.0.7 and Open Liberty are vulnerable to identity spoofing by an authenticated user using a specially crafted request. IBM X-Force ID: 225604.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/20/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-22476 affects IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty versions 17.0.0.3 through 22.0.0.7 and Open Liberty implementations, representing a significant identity spoofing weakness that could be exploited by authenticated users. This flaw resides in the authentication and authorization mechanisms of these application servers, potentially allowing malicious actors who have already established legitimate sessions to manipulate their identity within the system. The vulnerability specifically manifests when processing specially crafted requests that can bypass normal authentication boundaries, effectively enabling users to impersonate other authenticated entities within the application environment.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of user identity claims within the request processing pipeline of the Liberty server. When an authenticated user submits a crafted request containing manipulated authentication headers or session identifiers, the server fails to properly verify the integrity of these claims against the established authentication context. This weakness creates an attack surface where legitimate users can exploit the server's trust in certain request attributes to elevate their privileges or assume the identity of other authenticated users. The flaw operates at the application layer and leverages the server's inherent trust in specific request parameters that should normally be validated against the original authentication session.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a serious risk to organizations relying on IBM WebSphere Liberty for their application hosting infrastructure. An authenticated attacker could potentially access resources, data, or functionality that should be restricted to other users within the same application domain. The implications extend beyond simple privilege escalation to include potential data breaches, unauthorized transactions, and system compromise scenarios. The vulnerability affects the fundamental security model of the application server, undermining the principle of least privilege and potentially enabling lateral movement within networks where these servers operate. Organizations using affected versions face increased risk of insider threats and supply chain attacks where compromised authenticated accounts could be leveraged to gain deeper system access.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-22476 should prioritize immediate patching of affected IBM WebSphere Liberty and Open Liberty installations to the latest supported versions that contain the necessary security fixes. Organizations should implement additional monitoring controls to detect unusual authentication patterns or requests that might indicate exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and access controls should be reviewed to limit the potential impact of successful exploitation, while session management policies should be strengthened to ensure proper session validation. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-287 which addresses improper authentication issues, and could be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation. Security teams should also consider implementing request validation rules and logging mechanisms that can detect malformed authentication headers or session manipulation attempts. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to verify that the implemented mitigations are effective against this specific class of identity spoofing attacks.