CVE-2024-28777 in Cognos Controller
Summary
by MITRE • 02/19/2025
IBM Cognos Controller 11.0.0 through 11.0.1 FP3 and IBM Controller 11.1.0
is vulnerable to unrestricted deserialization. This vulnerability allows users to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, or cause denial of service attacks by exploiting the unrestricted deserialization of types in the application.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/26/2025
IBM Cognos Controller versions 11.0.0 through 11.0.1 FP3 and 11.1.0 contain a critical unrestricted deserialization vulnerability that represents a significant security risk for enterprise environments. This vulnerability falls under CWE-502 which specifically addresses deserialization of untrusted data, making it a well-documented and dangerous class of weakness in software security. The flaw occurs when the application processes serialized data without proper validation or sanitization, allowing attackers to craft malicious payloads that can be executed during the deserialization process. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it enables arbitrary code execution, privilege escalation, and denial of service conditions, providing attackers with multiple attack vectors to compromise the system. The impact extends beyond simple code execution as it can potentially allow attackers to gain elevated system privileges and persist within the environment, making it a prime target for advanced persistent threats.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability relies on the application's failure to properly validate serialized objects received from untrusted sources. When the application deserializes data without adequate type checking or security controls, attackers can inject malicious serialized objects that contain executable code or malicious instructions. This weakness is particularly dangerous in enterprise applications like IBM Cognos Controller which often operate with elevated privileges and handle sensitive financial data. The deserialization process typically occurs when the application receives data from external sources or user inputs, and without proper validation, any malicious serialized data can be transformed into executable code within the application's memory space. This creates a pathway for attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the system, potentially leading to complete system compromise.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses severe risks to organizations using IBM Cognos Controller for financial reporting and business intelligence. The ability to execute arbitrary code means that attackers could access sensitive financial data, modify reports, or even take control of the entire system. Privilege escalation capabilities further compound the risk as attackers may be able to elevate their access level from standard user to administrator, providing them with extensive control over the application and underlying infrastructure. Denial of service attacks can also be executed by crafting malicious payloads that cause the application to crash or become unresponsive, disrupting critical business operations and potentially affecting financial reporting processes that organizations rely on for decision making. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of the software, indicating a widespread impact across different deployment scenarios and making it a particularly concerning security issue for enterprise environments.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability while working toward permanent fixes through official patches from IBM. The primary defense mechanism involves implementing strict input validation and sanitization for all serialized data received by the application. Security teams should consider implementing application firewalls or web application firewalls that can detect and block malicious serialized data before it reaches the application. Additionally, organizations should implement principle of least privilege by ensuring that the application runs with minimal required permissions and that serialized data processing occurs in isolated environments. The use of secure deserialization libraries and frameworks that properly validate object types during deserialization can significantly reduce the risk. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify any other potential deserialization vulnerabilities within the application stack. Organizations should also implement monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect suspicious deserialization activities and establish incident response procedures to address potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including T1059 for command and scripting interpreter and T1068 for exploit for privilege escalation, making it a significant concern for organizations following MITRE ATT&CK framework for threat analysis and defense planning.