IBM Robotic Process Automation 21.0.0 through 21.0.7.18 and 23.0.0 through 23.0.18 and
IBM Robotic Process Automation for Cloud Pak 21.0.0 through 21.0.7.18 and 23.0.0 through 23.0.18
could allow an authenticated user to perform unauthorized actions as a privileged user due to improper validation of client-side security enforcement.
Weakness
The product is composed of a server that relies on the client to implement a mechanism that is intended to protect the server.
Potential Mitigations
- For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
- Even though client-side checks provide minimal benefits with respect to server-side security, they are still useful. First, they can support intrusion detection. If the server receives input that should have been rejected by the client, then it may be an indication of an attack. Second, client-side error-checking can provide helpful feedback to the user about the expectations for valid input. Third, there may be a reduction in server-side processing time for accidental input errors, although this is typically a small savings.
References