CVE-2023-45190 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing versions 7.0.2 and 7.0.3. The vulnerability arises from improper neutralization of HTTP headers for scripting syntax, specifically due to insufficient validation of the HOST headers. This flaw allows an attacker to inject malicious content into HTTP headers, leading to potential HTTP header injection attacks. Exploitation of this vulnerability can enable several attack vectors including cross-site scripting (XSS), cache poisoning, and session hijacking. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-644, which pertains to improper neutralization of HTTP headers for scripting syntax. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.1, indicating a medium impact with an attack vector of local (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), and low impact on confidentiality and integrity (C:L, I:L), with no impact on availability (A:N). The vulnerability does not require authentication or user interaction, but the attack vector is local, meaning the attacker must have some level of access to the network or system environment to exploit it. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the potential for cross-site scripting and session hijacking poses a risk to the confidentiality and integrity of data processed or managed by the affected IBM product. IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing is a tool used for managing and optimizing engineering lifecycle data, often integrated into enterprise environments for software and systems engineering processes. The improper validation of HOST headers could allow attackers to manipulate HTTP responses or cache behavior, potentially compromising user sessions or injecting malicious scripts into web interfaces used by engineers and administrators.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability could be significant, especially for those in industries relying heavily on IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization for managing complex engineering projects such as automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, and defense sectors. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive engineering data, manipulation of project information, or disruption of engineering workflows through session hijacking or cache poisoning. This could result in intellectual property theft, project delays, and erosion of trust in engineering data integrity. Given the collaborative nature of engineering projects across multiple European countries, a successful attack could have cascading effects on supply chains and cross-border collaborations. Furthermore, regulatory compliance requirements such as GDPR impose strict obligations on protecting data confidentiality and integrity, meaning that exploitation of this vulnerability could also lead to legal and financial repercussions for affected organizations.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should prioritize upgrading IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing to versions beyond 7.0.3 once patches are released by IBM. In the interim, organizations should implement strict input validation and sanitization controls on HTTP headers at the network perimeter or application gateway level to detect and block malicious HOST header values. Web application firewalls (WAFs) can be configured with custom rules to identify and mitigate HTTP header injection attempts. Network segmentation should be enforced to limit local access to the vulnerable service, reducing the attack surface. Monitoring and logging of HTTP headers and unusual session behaviors can help detect exploitation attempts early. Additionally, organizations should review and harden cache configurations to prevent cache poisoning attacks and enforce secure session management practices to mitigate session hijacking risks. Regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on HTTP header injection vectors are recommended to validate the effectiveness of these controls.