#VU38944 Improper Authentication in Spring Security - CVE-2014-3527

Vulnerability identifier: #VU38944

Vulnerability risk: High

CVSSv4.0: 8.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber]

CVE-ID: CVE-2014-3527

CWE-ID: CWE-287

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Spring Security
Server applications / Frameworks for developing and running applications

Vendor: VMware, Inc

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.

When using the CAS Proxy ticket authentication from Spring Security 3.1 to 3.2.4 a malicious CAS Service could trick another CAS Service into authenticating a proxy ticket that was not associated. This is due to the fact that the proxy ticket authentication uses the information from the HttpServletRequest which is populated based upon untrusted information within the HTTP request. This means if there are access control restrictions on which CAS services can authenticate to one another, those restrictions can be bypassed. If users are not using CAS Proxy tickets and not basing access control decisions based upon the CAS Service, then there is no impact to users.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Spring Security: 3.1.0 - 3.1.4, 3.2.0 - 3.2.4

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External links
https://pivotal.io/security/cve-2014-3527

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.