CVE-2023-37503
📋 TL;DR
HCL Compass has weak password requirements that allow attackers to easily guess passwords and compromise user accounts. This affects all HCL Compass installations with default or weak password policies. Organizations using vulnerable versions are at risk of unauthorized access.
💻 Affected Systems
- HCL Compass
📦 What is this software?
Hcl Compass by Hcltech
Hcl Compass by Hcltech
Hcl Compass by Hcltech
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise through administrative account takeover, leading to data theft, system manipulation, or ransomware deployment.
Likely Case
Unauthorized access to user accounts, potential data exposure, and privilege escalation within the application.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if strong password policies are enforced and multi-factor authentication is implemented.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires valid usernames but uses simple password guessing/brute-force techniques due to weak requirements.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Refer to HCL advisory for specific fixed versions
Vendor Advisory: https://support.hcltechsw.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0107512
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Review HCL advisory KB0107512. 2. Apply the recommended patch/update. 3. Restart HCL Compass services. 4. Enforce strong password policies post-update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Enforce Strong Password Policy
allImplement minimum password length (12+ characters), complexity requirements, and account lockout policies.
Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
allAdd MFA to HCL Compass login process to prevent password-only attacks.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network segmentation to restrict access to HCL Compass systems
- Deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for brute-force attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if password policies allow weak passwords (short length, no complexity requirements) in HCL Compass configuration.Check Version:
Check HCL Compass version in administration console or via vendor documentation.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify patch installation via version check and test that strong password policies are enforced.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed login attempts from single IP
- Successful logins after many failures
Network Indicators:
- High volume of authentication requests to HCL Compass ports
SIEM Query:
source="hcl_compass" event_type="authentication" (result="failure" count>10 within 5min)