CVE-2024-42212 in BigFix Compliance
Summary
by MITRE • 05/05/2025
HCL BigFix Compliance is affected by an improper or missing SameSite attribute. This can lead to Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks, where a malicious site could trick a user's browser into making unintended requests using authenticated sessions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/05/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-42212 affects HCL BigFix Compliance, a security compliance and management platform widely used in enterprise environments. This issue stems from an improper or missing SameSite attribute in HTTP cookies, which represents a critical weakness in the application's web security architecture. The SameSite attribute is a crucial security mechanism designed to prevent CSRF attacks by instructing browsers whether cookies should be sent along with cross-site requests. When this attribute is missing or incorrectly configured, it creates a significant attack surface that malicious actors can exploit to compromise user sessions and perform unauthorized actions within the application.
The technical flaw manifests when the application fails to properly implement the SameSite cookie attribute, which is defined in the IETF RFC 6265bis specification and classified under CWE-352 as Cross-Site Request Forgery. Without proper SameSite enforcement, cookies are sent with all requests regardless of the origin, making it possible for attackers to craft malicious web pages that can trigger authenticated actions on behalf of legitimate users. This vulnerability specifically impacts the authentication and session management components of HCL BigFix Compliance, potentially allowing attackers to perform administrative actions, modify configurations, or access sensitive data without proper authorization. The issue is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where BigFix Compliance is used for critical security monitoring and policy enforcement.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session hijacking, as it could enable attackers to execute a wide range of malicious activities within the compromised environment. An attacker could leverage this weakness to perform actions such as creating new user accounts, modifying compliance policies, accessing restricted reports, or even escalating privileges within the system. The attack vector typically involves tricking a logged-in user into visiting a malicious website that contains embedded requests to the vulnerable BigFix Compliance application. This scenario aligns with the ATT&CK framework under T1531 for Account Access Removal and T1078 for Valid Accounts, as the compromised sessions could be used to maintain persistence or escalate privileges. The vulnerability affects all users who have authenticated sessions with the application, making it particularly dangerous in environments with multiple administrators and users.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability by ensuring that all session cookies in HCL BigFix Compliance are properly configured with appropriate SameSite attributes. The recommended configuration involves setting the SameSite attribute to either 'Strict' or 'Lax' depending on the specific use case, with 'Strict' providing the highest level of protection against CSRF attacks. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive cookie audit procedures to identify all cookies that require SameSite enforcement and verify that the application properly implements these security controls. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing additional CSRF protection mechanisms such as anti-forgery tokens and origin validation checks to provide defense in depth. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to ensure that the implementation meets industry standards and that no other similar vulnerabilities exist within the application's web interface, as this vulnerability could indicate broader security configuration issues that require systematic review and remediation across the entire application stack.