CVE-2021-20461 - Incorrect Authorization

Severity

65%

Complexity

27%

Confidentiality

60%

IBM Cognos Analytics 10.0 and 11.1 is susceptible to a weakness in the implementation of the System Appearance configuration setting. An attacker could potentially bypass business logic to modify the appearance and behavior of the application. IBM X-Force ID: 196770.

CVSS 3.1 Base Score 6.5. CVSS Attack Vector: network. CVSS Attack Complexity: low. CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N).

CVSS 2.0 Base Score 4. CVSS Attack Vector: network. CVSS Attack Complexity: low. CVSS Vector: (AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N).

Demo Examples

Incorrect Authorization

CWE-863

The following code could be for a medical records application. It displays a record to already authenticated users, confirming the user's authorization using a value stored in a cookie.


               
}
}
setcookie("role", $role, time()+60*60*2);
die("\n");
DisplayMedicalHistory($_POST['patient_ID']);
die("You are not Authorized to view this record\n");

The programmer expects that the cookie will only be set when getRole() succeeds. The programmer even diligently specifies a 2-hour expiration for the cookie. However, the attacker can easily set the "role" cookie to the value "Reader". As a result, the $role variable is "Reader", and getRole() is never invoked. The attacker has bypassed the authorization system.

Overview

First reported 3 years ago

2021-06-30 14:15:00

Last updated 3 years ago

2021-09-20 18:55:00

Affected Software

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0.13

11.0.13

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0.13 Fix Pack 1

11.0.13

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0.13 Fix Pack 2

11.0.13

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0.13 Fix Pack 3

11.0.13

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