ICS Advisory

CA Unified Infrastructure Management Directory Traversal Vulnerability (Update B)

Last Revised
Alert Code
ICSA-16-315-01B

OVERVIEW

This updated advisory is a follow-up to the original advisory titled ICSA-16-315-01A CA Unified Infrastructure Management Directory Traversal Vulnerability that was published November 15, 2016, on the NCCIC/ICS-CERT web site.

Independent researcher Andrea Micalizzi, working with Zero Day Initiative, has identified a directory traversal vulnerability in CA Technologies’ Unified Infrastructure Management application. CA Technologies has produced an update to mitigate this vulnerability.

This vulnerability could be exploited remotely.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following Unified Infrastructure Management versions are affected:

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  • Unified Infrastructure Management Version 8.47 and earlier.

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IMPACT

The software uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize sequences that can resolve to a location that is outside of that directory. This allows attackers to traverse the file system to access files or directories that are outside the restricted directory. The attacker may be able to create or overwrite critical files that are used to execute code, such as programs or libraries.

Impact to individual organizations depends on many factors that are unique to each organization. ICS-CERT recommends that organizations evaluate the impact of this vulnerability based on their operational environment, architecture, and product implementation.

BACKGROUND

CA Technologies is a United States-based company that maintains offices in several countries around the world, including the US, UK, Netherlands, Brazil, India, Germany, France, Korea, China, and Japan.

The affected product, Unified Infrastructure Management, is a web-based SCADA system. According to CA Technologies, Unified Infrastructure Management software is deployed primarily in the Information Technology sector. CA Technologies estimates that this product is used primarily in the United States and Europe with a small percentage in Asia.

VULNERABILITY CHARACTERIZATION

VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

RELATIVE PATH TRAVERSALCWE-23: Relative Path Traversal, http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/23.html, web site last accessed November 10, 2016.

The Unified Infrastructure Management software uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize sequences such as ".." that can resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.

CVE-2016-5803NVD, http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2016-5803, web site last accessed January 03, 2017. has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 8.6 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L).CVSS Calculator, https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.0#CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L, web site last accessed November 10, 2016.

VULNERABILITY DETAILS

EXPLOITABILITY

This vulnerability could be exploited remotely.

EXISTENCE OF EXPLOIT

No known public exploits specifically target this vulnerability.

DIFFICULTY

An attacker with a low skill would be able to exploit this vulnerability.

MITIGATION

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CA Technologies recommends that users upgrade to UIM 8.5 or later, which is available at the CA Support Download Center at:

https://support.ca.com

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UIM SNAP users should upgrade to the latest version available at the CA Support Download Center at:

https://support.ca.com

CA Technologies has released a security notice entitled CA20161109-01: Security Notice for CA Unified Infrastructure Management that can be found at:

https://www.ca.com/us/services-support/ca-support/ca-support-online/product-content/recommended-reading/security-notices/ca20161109-01-security-notice-for-ca-unified-infrastructure-mgmt.html

ICS-CERT recommends that users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability. Specifically, users should:

  • Minimize network exposure for all control system devices and/or systems, and ensure that they are not accessible from the Internet.
  • Locate control system networks and remote devices behind firewalls, and isolate them from the business network.
  • When remote access is required, use secure methods, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing that VPNs may have vulnerabilities and should be updated to the most current version available. Also recognize that VPN is only as secure as the connected devices.

ICS-CERT reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.

ICS-CERT also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS-CERT web page. Several recommended practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available in the ICS‑CERT Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies, that is available for download from the ICS-CERT web site.

Organizations observing any suspected malicious activity should follow their established internal procedures and report their findings to ICS-CERT for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy.

Vendor

CA Technologies