A recent vulnerability, CVE-2024-5201, has been discovered in the OpenText Dimensions RM software which allows authenticated users to escalate their privileges to that of another user through simple HTTP request manipulation. This vulnerability poses a significant security risk, as it makes it possible for malicious users to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and operations within the system.

In this post, we will dive into a detailed analysis of the exploit, including code snippets, and discuss links to original references and resources. The objective of this article is to provide an exclusive and comprehensive insight into CVE-2024-5201 for IT security professionals, software administrators, and developers alike.

Vulnerability Overview

OpenText Dimensions RM is a popular requirements management application that helps organizations to capture, manage, and track product requirements throughout the entire product lifecycle. The vulnerability, CVE-2024-5201, is a Privilege Escalation vulnerability that, if exploited, allows an authenticated user with malicious intent to elevate their privileges and perform actions or access data that they are not authorized to do.

Exploit Details

The exploitation of this vulnerability is possible through manipulation of HTTP requests sent to the OpenText Dimensions RM application. An attacker can tamper with the request parameters to modify their current user context and gain access to data and operations belonging to another user.

Here is a sample HTTP request illustrating the vulnerability

POST /dimensions/project-1/ HTTP/1.1
Host: target-host.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5. (Windows NT 10.; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58..3029.110 Safari/537.36
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 143

user_id_attacker=attacker_id&desired_privilege=project_admin&action=set_privilege&target_user_id=victim_id

As shown in the code snippet above, an attacker can tamper with the parameters "user_id_attacker", "desired_privilege", and "target_user_id" to escalate their own privileges to that of another user, such as a 'project_admin'.

Mitigation and Prevention

To mitigate this vulnerability and protect the system against potential attacks, the following actions can be taken:

1. Update to the latest version of OpenText Dimensions RM: OpenText has released a patch that addresses the vulnerability. It is highly recommended to update the application to the latest version as soon as possible.
(Link: https://www.opentext.com/products-and-solutions/products/dimensions-rm)

2. Implement input validation and access controls: Pay close attention to input validation in your code to prevent malicious modifications of HTTP request parameters. Ensure proper access controls are in place, and restrict user privileges to the least required permissions.

3. Monitor and audit system usage: Regularly monitor and review user activity logs to identify any suspicious patterns, and immediately investigate and respond to potential security breaches.

Conclusion

CVE-2024-5201 is a critical Privilege Escalation vulnerability that puts OpenText Dimensions RM users at risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information and operations. It is crucial for organizations using this software to take immediate action to update their systems, implement robust security controls, and proactively monitor and respond to potential threats.

For more information on this vulnerability, consult the following resources

- Original CVE Advisory: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-5201
- OpenText Security Bulletin: https://knowledge.opentext.com/knowledge/llisapi.dll/Open/68910259
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD): https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-5201

Timeline

Published on: 05/23/2024 20:15:09 UTC
Last modified on: 08/01/2024 21:03:11 UTC