Recently, a major vulnerability (CVE-2024-31903) was discovered in IBM's Sterling B2B Integrator Standard Edition. This vulnerability impacts versions 6... through 6.1.2.5 and 6.2.. through 6.2..2 and allows attackers on a local network to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system. At the heart of the vulnerability lies the deserialization of untrusted data by the affected software. In this post, we will take a deep dive into the details of this vulnerability, its consequences, and how organizations can protect themselves from the risk.

The Vulnerability

The root cause of CVE-2024-31903 is the improper deserialization of untrusted data in the affected IBM Sterling B2B Integrator Standard Edition. In programming, serialization and deserialization are processes that involve converting objects into a format that can be stored, transmitted, and later reassembled into their original form. Deserialization, in this case, refers to the reverse process: taking serialized data and constructing the original object from it.

The problem occurs when the application fails to validate the data being deserialized properly. By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can execute arbitrary code on a user's machine by sending a malicious payload. As the affected software runs with high-level system privileges, the attacker could potentially take full control of the targeted machine.

Code Snippet Exploiting CVE-2024-31903

Consider the following example which demonstrates how a remote attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import socket

def send_exploit(host, port, payload):
    payload_prefix = "<XML_PAYLOAD_START>"
    payload_suffix = "<XML_PAYLOAD_END>"
    payload_final = payload_prefix + payload + payload_suffix
    
    with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
        s.connect((host, port))
        s.sendall(payload_final.encode("utf-8"))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    TARGET_HOST = "192.168.1.111"
    TARGET_PORT = 60000
    PAYLOAD_XML = """
        <!-- XML payload containing malicious serialized objects -->
    """
    
    send_exploit(TARGET_HOST, TARGET_PORT, PAYLOAD_XML)

Note that the provided code snippet is for educational purposes only and should not be used unlawfully.

Original References

For more information on CVE-2024-31903, including technical details and remediation steps, please refer to the following IBM Security Bulletin:
IBM Security Bulletin: Vulnerability in Sterling B2B Integrator Standard Edition (CVE-2024-31903)

To address this vulnerability, IBM has already released patches for the affected Sterling B2B Integrator Standard Edition versions. Organizations running the affected software are strongly encouraged to apply these patches immediately or to upgrade to a non-vulnerable version.

For more details on the patching process and available upgrade paths, please refer to the IBM Security Bulletin mentioned above.

Conclusion

CVE-2024-31903 represents a significant risk for organizations using IBM Sterling B2B Integrator Standard Edition, as attackers could potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and execute arbitrary code on targeted machines. It is crucial for companies to take this vulnerability seriously and apply the recommended patches as soon as possible to protect themselves from potential attacks.

Timeline

Published on: 01/22/2025 16:15:29 UTC