CVE-2024-23578: HCL Aftermarket EPC CORS Vulnerability

CVE-2024-23578 Overview

CVE-2024-23578 affects HCL Aftermarket EPC, which implements a permissive HTML5 Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) policy. The application returns a wildcard (*) value in the Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header, allowing requests from any domain. This misconfiguration can enable attacker-controlled origins to read responses from the vulnerable endpoint under specific conditions. The issue is tracked under CWE-942: Permissive Cross-domain Policy with Untrusted Domains. Successful exploitation requires user interaction and high attack complexity, limiting the scope of impact. Confidentiality and integrity impacts are rated low, and there is no availability impact.

Critical Impact
A permissive CORS policy allows cross-origin requests from any domain, potentially exposing application data to attacker-controlled web pages when a victim user visits them.

Affected Products

HCL Aftermarket EPC (specific affected versions are not enumerated in the NVD record)
Refer to the HCL Software Knowledge Base Article for vendor-supplied version details
Deployments exposing the affected endpoints to browser-based clients

Discovery Timeline

2026-07-17 - CVE-2024-23578 published to NVD
2026-07-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-23578

Vulnerability Analysis

HCL Aftermarket EPC responds to cross-origin requests with an Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * header. This wildcard configuration instructs browsers to allow any origin to read responses from the affected endpoint. The vulnerability is classified as [CWE-942], covering overly permissive cross-domain policies that trust unauthenticated external origins.

The practical impact depends on what the affected endpoints expose. If the wildcard is combined with authenticated sessions using bearer tokens sent via custom headers, malicious sites can craft requests that leak response data. Standard cookie-based sessions are partially protected because browsers do not send credentials with wildcard CORS. However, applications relying on token-based or IP-based trust may still expose sensitive data. The EPSS score of 0.122% reflects a low observed exploitation likelihood.

Root Cause

The root cause is the use of a wildcard origin in the CORS policy for endpoints that should restrict cross-origin access. The application does not maintain an allowlist of trusted origins and does not evaluate the Origin request header before setting the Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header. This design decision removes the browser's same-origin protection for these endpoints.

Attack Vector

An attacker hosts a malicious web page that issues cross-origin requests to the vulnerable HCL Aftermarket EPC endpoints. When a victim with network access to the application visits the attacker page, the browser sends the request and permits the attacker script to read the response due to the wildcard CORS policy. Exploitation is network-based, requires user interaction, and has high attack complexity because it depends on the victim's session context and endpoint behavior.

No verified public proof-of-concept exists for this issue. Refer to the HCL Software Knowledge Base Article for vendor technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-23578

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP response headers on HCL Aftermarket EPC endpoints containing Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Unexpected cross-origin requests to Aftermarket EPC endpoints originating from unknown referrer domains
Web server access logs showing Origin headers referencing untrusted external domains followed by data-heavy responses

Detection Strategies

Inspect HTTP responses from Aftermarket EPC servers using automated scanners to identify wildcard CORS headers on sensitive endpoints
Correlate web proxy telemetry to identify browsers making requests to Aftermarket EPC from non-corporate origins
Review reverse proxy or WAF logs for anomalous Origin header values on API endpoints

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable continuous HTTP response header monitoring on all Aftermarket EPC deployments
Log and alert on cross-origin request patterns that deviate from expected client origins
Track user session activity for concurrent requests originating from unrelated browser tabs or external domains

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-23578

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the vendor-provided fix referenced in the HCL Software Knowledge Base Article
Restrict the CORS policy to an explicit allowlist of trusted origins instead of the wildcard value
Audit all endpoints for sensitive data exposure and disable CORS where cross-origin access is not required

Patch Information

HCL has published remediation guidance in HCL Software Knowledge Base Article KB0132294. Administrators should consult the vendor advisory to identify the fixed release and apply it in accordance with change management procedures.

Workarounds

Configure an upstream reverse proxy or web application firewall to rewrite the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header to a specific trusted origin
Reject requests containing untrusted Origin header values at the network edge before they reach the application
Require authenticated sessions to use SameSite=Strict cookies to limit cross-origin session exposure

bash

# Example nginx configuration to override permissive CORS behavior
location /aftermarket/ {
    if ($http_origin !~* ^https://(trusted1\.example\.com|trusted2\.example\.com)$) {
        return 403;
    }
    add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' "$http_origin" always;
    add_header 'Vary' 'Origin' always;
    proxy_pass http://aftermarket_backend;
}