CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2021-1525

URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')

Published: Jun 04, 2021 | Modified: Nov 07, 2023
CVSS 3.x
6.1
MEDIUM
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS 2.x
5.8 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

A vulnerability in Cisco Webex Meetings and Cisco Webex Meetings Server could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to redirect users to a malicious file. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of URL paths in the application interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading a user to follow a specially crafted URL that is designed to cause Cisco Webex Meetings to include a remote file in the web UI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the application to offer a remote file to a user, which could allow the attacker to conduct further phishing or spoofing attacks.

Weakness

A web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a Redirect. This simplifies phishing attacks.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Webex_meetings_online Cisco 41.3.5 (including) 41.3.5 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco * 3.0 (excluding)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 3.0 (including) 3.0 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 3.0-maintenance_release1 (including) 3.0-maintenance_release1 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 3.0-maintenance_release2 (including) 3.0-maintenance_release2 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 3.0-maintenance_release3 (including) 3.0-maintenance_release3 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 4.0 (including) 4.0 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 4.0-maintenance_release1 (including) 4.0-maintenance_release1 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 4.0-maintenance_release2 (including) 4.0-maintenance_release2 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 4.0-maintenance_release3 (including) 4.0-maintenance_release3 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 4.0-maintenance_release3_security_patch3 (including) 4.0-maintenance_release3_security_patch3 (including)
Webex_meetings_server Cisco 4.0-maintenance_release3_security_patch4 (including) 4.0-maintenance_release3_security_patch4 (including)

Potential Mitigations

  • Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
  • When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
  • Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
  • Use a list of approved URLs or domains to be used for redirection.
  • When the set of acceptable objects, such as filenames or URLs, is limited or known, create a mapping from a set of fixed input values (such as numeric IDs) to the actual filenames or URLs, and reject all other inputs.
  • For example, ID 1 could map to “/login.asp” and ID 2 could map to “http://www.example.com/". Features such as the ESAPI AccessReferenceMap [REF-45] provide this capability.
  • Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide data to the application. Remember that such inputs may be obtained indirectly through API calls.
  • Many open redirect problems occur because the programmer assumed that certain inputs could not be modified, such as cookies and hidden form fields.

References