CVE-2022-46265 in Polarion ALM
Summary
by MITRE • 12/13/2022
A vulnerability has been identified in Polarion ALM (All versions). The affected application contains a Host header injection vulnerability that could allow an attacker to spoof a Host header information and redirect users to malicious websites.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/08/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-46265 represents a critical host header injection flaw within Polarion ALM software across all affected versions. This security weakness stems from insufficient validation of host header values in the application's HTTP request processing mechanisms, creating an avenue for malicious actors to manipulate the host header field during web requests. The vulnerability specifically affects the application's handling of HTTP headers, where the system fails to properly sanitize or validate user-supplied host information before processing. This flaw allows attackers to inject arbitrary host header values that can be interpreted by the application as legitimate requests, potentially leading to various security consequences including session hijacking, cross-site scripting attacks, and unauthorized redirections.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability enables attackers to manipulate the host header field within HTTP requests sent to the Polarion ALM application. When the application processes these requests, it accepts the malicious host header value without proper validation, allowing the attacker to specify any domain or IP address they choose. This manipulation can result in the application generating incorrect URLs or redirecting users to attacker-controlled domains. The flaw typically occurs in the application's HTTP request parsing logic where host header values are directly used in URL construction or redirection operations without adequate sanitization or validation checks. The vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including phishing campaigns, social engineering, or by directly manipulating HTTP requests to the application server.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-46265 extends beyond simple redirection attacks and can compromise the integrity of user sessions and application security. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to perform session fixation attacks by manipulating host headers to create malicious session tokens that appear legitimate to the application. The vulnerability also enables cross-site scripting scenarios where attackers can inject malicious content into URLs that the application generates, potentially leading to data exfiltration or unauthorized access to sensitive application resources. Additionally, the flaw can facilitate man-in-the-middle attacks by allowing attackers to redirect users to malicious domains that appear to be legitimate Polarion ALM interfaces. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations using Polarion ALM for critical software development lifecycle management, as it could compromise the security of development environments and sensitive project data.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including input validation for host headers, implementation of strict header sanitization mechanisms, and deployment of web application firewalls to filter malicious host header values. The application should be configured to reject or sanitize any host header values that do not match the expected domain or IP address ranges. Security teams should also implement monitoring for unusual host header patterns and establish proper access controls to limit the potential impact of exploitation. According to CWE standards, this vulnerability maps to CWE-614, which specifically addresses sensitive cookie exposure through improper host header handling. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a technique for credential access and initial access through web application attacks, with potential for privilege escalation if attackers can manipulate session tokens. Regular security updates and patch management should be implemented to address the root cause, while network segmentation and proper HTTP header configuration can provide additional defensive layers against exploitation attempts.