CVE-2020-4427 Scanner

IBM Data Risk Manager is a comprehensive solution designed for data risk assessment, focusing on identifying, analysing, and mitigating risks associated with data within an organization. It is deployed by enterprises for ensuring data protection compliance and securing sensitive data from unauthorized access or exposure. This software is typically used by IT security teams and data custodians to monitor and manage risks across various data stores. Its integration capabilities with different databases and cloud services make it a popular choice for robust data discovery and classification tasks.

The unauthorized admin access vulnerability targetted by this scanner is significant because it allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms and potentially gain administrative privileges. This vulnerability arises specifically from the improper configuration of SAML authentication, enabling attackers to exploit weaknesses in the SAML idpSelection endpoint. Such vulnerabilities can be critical as they could permit unauthorized users access to sensitive data and systems at an administrative level, thereby bypassing traditional security protocols.

Technical details of this vulnerability revolve around the SAML idpSelection endpoint. Attackers can manipulate the SAML authentication flow by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to this endpoint. This could lead to the bypassing of security checks intended to verify user credentials, allowing the execution of privileged actions by unauthorized entities. The endpoint's flawed handling of identifiers and authentication tokens is a critical point of failure, thus necessitating close scrutiny and remediation.

If exploited, attackers could gain full administrative access to IBM Data Risk Manager systems, leading to the exposure of sensitive enterprise data. It may enable data tampering, unauthorized data deletion, or other malicious activities that could severely compromise data integrity, accountability, and confidentiality within the organization. Such disruptions could result in financial losses, reputational damage, and legal implications due to non-compliance with data protection regulations.

REFERENCES

• https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/http/ibm_drm_rce.rb
• https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Apr/33
• https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6206875
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-4427