CVE-2023-23482 in Sterling Partner Engagement Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 06/08/2023
IBM Sterling Partner Engagement Manager 6.1, 6.2, and 6.2.1 could allow a remote attacker to hijack the clicking action of the victim. By persuading a victim to visit a malicious Web site, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to hijack the victim's click actions and possibly launch further attacks against the victim. IBM X-Force ID: 245891.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/07/2023
This vulnerability in IBM Sterling Partner Engagement Manager affects versions 6.1, 6.2, and 6.2.1 and represents a significant click hijacking attack vector that enables remote code execution through social engineering techniques. The flaw allows attackers to manipulate user interactions by intercepting and redirecting click events that occur within the application's web interface, creating a dangerous scenario where victims unknowingly interact with malicious content while believing they are performing legitimate actions. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-611 weakness category, specifically addressing improper access control in web applications where user interaction events are not properly validated or secured against manipulation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the web application's event handling mechanisms, particularly how mouse click events are processed and routed through the browser interface. Attackers can craft malicious web pages that leverage the application's legitimate click processing functionality to redirect user actions toward attacker-controlled resources, potentially enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or further exploitation of the victim's browser environment. The attack requires user interaction through a web browser, making it particularly dangerous as it leverages social engineering to convince victims to visit compromised websites, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1566 for initial access through spearphishing.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple click redirection, as it creates a foundation for more sophisticated attacks that could compromise user sessions and potentially escalate to full system compromise. An attacker who successfully hijacks click actions could redirect users to malicious download pages, steal session cookies, or manipulate data entry forms to capture sensitive information. The vulnerability's remote nature means that attackers can exploit it from anywhere on the internet without requiring physical access to the target network or application infrastructure. This makes the attack surface particularly broad and difficult to defend against through traditional network security measures alone, as the exploitation occurs at the application user interface level.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to the latest available patches from IBM that address the click hijacking vulnerability, implementing strict web application firewalls to monitor and block suspicious click event patterns, and deploying user education programs to recognize and avoid potentially malicious websites. Network segmentation and monitoring of web traffic can help detect anomalous behavior patterns associated with click hijacking attempts. Additionally, browser security enhancements such as clickjacking protection mechanisms and strict content security policies should be enabled to reduce the effectiveness of this attack vector. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of securing user interface event handling and implementing proper input validation at all levels of web application architecture to prevent manipulation of user interaction events.