ManageEngine AssetExplorer fails to properly sanitize XML asset data submission

Overview

ManageEngine AssetExplorer version 5.6.0 build number 5610 and possibly older versions is vulnerable to multiple stored XSS vulnerabilities via XML asset data submission.

Description

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (‘Cross-site Scripting’)

ManageEngine AssetExplorer version 5.6.0 build number 5610 and possibly older versions is vulnerable to multiple stored XSS vulnerabilities via XML asset data submission. Asset data is submitted by a program on client systems in an XML format via a POST request to http://[hostname]:8989/discoveryServlet/WsDiscoveryServlet?COMPUTERNAME=[computer name]. This submission is not authenticated. It has been reported that several of the data fields in that XML document are not properly filtered on ingestion by the XML processor or on output in the HTML interface. An example of a vulnerable element is the DocRoot/Computer_Information/output element. The value supplied to this element is echoed verbatim when viewing the asset in AssetExplorer, potentially resulting in a persistent XSS attack.

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Impact

An attacker with access to the ManageEngine AssetExplorer web interface can conduct a cross-site scripting attack, which could be used to result in information leakage, privilege escalation, and/or denial of service.

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Solution

Update

The vendor has stated that this vulnerability has been addressed in ManageEngine AssetExplorer build 5614 and the issue id AE-46841. Users are advised to update to ManageEngine AssetExplorer build 5614 or higher.

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Restrict access

As a general good security practice, only allow connections from trusted hosts and networks. Note that restricting access does not prevent XSS, CSRF, or SQLi attacks since the attack comes as an HTTP request from a legitimate user’s host. Restricting access would prevent an attacker from accessing the ManageEngine AssetExplorer web interface using stolen credentials from a blocked network location.

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Vendor Information

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Zoho Affected

Notified: August 02, 2012 Updated: November 30, 2012

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Vendor References

• <http://www.manageengine.com/products/asset-explorer/sp-readme.html&gt;

CVSS Metrics

Group	Score	Vector
Base	7.8	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:C/A:N
Temporal	5.5	E:POC/RL:OF/RC:UC
Environmental	1.5	CDP:L/TD:L/CR:ND/IR:ND/AR:ND

References

• <http://www.manageengine.com/products/asset-explorer/&gt;
• <http://www.manageengine.com/products/asset-explorer/sp-readme.html&gt;
• <http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/79.html&gt;

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Philip Martin for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Michael Orlando.

Other Information

CVE IDs:	CVE-2012-5956
Date Public:	2012-11-30 Date First Published: