Vulnerabilities > CVE-2008-4679 - Improper Authentication vulnerability in IBM Websphere Application Server

047910
CVSS 6.8 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
MEDIUM
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
PARTIAL
Integrity impact
PARTIAL
Availability impact
PARTIAL
network
ibm
CWE-287
nessus
NVD
Published: 2008-10-22
Updated: 2017-08-08

Summary

The Web Services Security component in IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) 6.0.2 before 6.0.2.31 and 6.1 before 6.1.0.19, when Certificate Store Collections is configured to use Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL), does not call the setRevocationEnabled method on the PKIXBuilderParameters object, which prevents the "Java security method" from checking the revocation status of X.509 certificates and allows remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions via a SOAP message with a revoked certificate.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Ibm
26

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Authentication Abuse
    An attacker obtains unauthorized access to an application, service or device either through knowledge of the inherent weaknesses of an authentication mechanism, or by exploiting a flaw in the authentication scheme's implementation. In such an attack an authentication mechanism is functioning but a carefully controlled sequence of events causes the mechanism to grant access to the attacker. This attack may exploit assumptions made by the target's authentication procedures, such as assumptions regarding trust relationships or assumptions regarding the generation of secret values. This attack differs from Authentication Bypass attacks in that Authentication Abuse allows the attacker to be certified as a valid user through illegitimate means, while Authentication Bypass allows the user to access protected material without ever being certified as an authenticated user. This attack does not rely on prior sessions established by successfully authenticating users, as relied upon for the "Exploitation of Session Variables, Resource IDs and other Trusted Credentials" attack patterns.
  • Exploiting Trust in Client (aka Make the Client Invisible)
    An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities in client/server communication channel authentication and data integrity. It leverages the implicit trust a server places in the client, or more importantly, that which the server believes is the client. An attacker executes this type of attack by placing themselves in the communication channel between client and server such that communication directly to the server is possible where the server believes it is communicating only with a valid client. There are numerous variations of this type of attack.
  • Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Register Man in the Middle
    This attack utilizes a REST(REpresentational State Transfer)-style applications' trust in the system resources and environment to place man in the middle once SSL is terminated. Rest applications premise is that they leverage existing infrastructure to deliver web services functionality. An example of this is a Rest application that uses HTTP Get methods and receives a HTTP response with an XML document. These Rest style web services are deployed on existing infrastructure such as Apache and IIS web servers with no SOAP stack required. Unfortunately from a security standpoint, there frequently is no interoperable identity security mechanism deployed, so Rest developers often fall back to SSL to deliver security. In large data centers, SSL is typically terminated at the edge of the network - at the firewall, load balancer, or router. Once the SSL is terminated the HTTP request is in the clear (unless developers have hashed or encrypted the values, but this is rare). The attacker can utilize a sniffer such as Wireshark to snapshot the credentials, such as username and password that are passed in the clear once SSL is terminated. Once the attacker gathers these credentials, they can submit requests to the web service provider just as authorized user do. There is not typically an authentication on the client side, beyond what is passed in the request itself so once this is compromised, then this is generally sufficient to compromise the service's authentication scheme.
  • Man in the Middle Attack
    This type of attack targets the communication between two components (typically client and server). The attacker places himself in the communication channel between the two components. Whenever one component attempts to communicate with the other (data flow, authentication challenges, etc.), the data first goes to the attacker, who has the opportunity to observe or alter it, and it is then passed on to the other component as if it was never intercepted. This interposition is transparent leaving the two compromised components unaware of the potential corruption or leakage of their communications. The potential for Man-in-the-Middle attacks yields an implicit lack of trust in communication or identify between two components.

Nessus

NASL familyWeb Servers
NASL idWEBSPHERE_6_0_2_31.NASL
descriptionIBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0.2 before Fix Pack 31 appears to be running on the remote host. As such, it is reportedly affected by multiple vulnerabilities : - By sending a specially crafted HTTP request with the
last seen2020-06-01
modified2020-06-02
plugin id34501
published2008-10-27
reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2008-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/34501
titleIBM WebSphere Application Server < 6.0.2.31 Multiple Vulnerabilities
code
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(34501);
  script_version("1.21");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2018/08/06 14:03:16");

  script_cve_id(
    "CVE-2008-4111", 
    "CVE-2008-4678", 
    "CVE-2008-4679", 
    "CVE-2009-0434"
  );
  script_bugtraq_id(31839, 31186, 33700);
  script_xref(name:"Secunia", value:"32296");

  script_name(english:"IBM WebSphere Application Server < 6.0.2.31 Multiple Vulnerabilities");
  script_summary(english:"Reads the version number from the SOAP port");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The remote application server is affected by multiple vulnerabilities.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0.2 before Fix Pack 31 appears to
be running on the remote host.  As such, it is reportedly affected by
multiple vulnerabilities :
 
  - By sending a specially crafted HTTP request with the 
    'Host' header field set to more than 256 bytes, it may 
    be possible to crash the remote application server.
    (PK69371)
 
  - An unspecified security exposure vulnerability exists if
    'fileServing' feature is enabled. (PK64302)

  - Web services security fails to honor Certificate 
    Revocation Lists (CRL) configured in Certificate Store 
    Collections. (PK61258)

  - Provided Performance Monitoring Infrastructur (PMI) is 
    enabled, it may be possible for an local attacker to
    obtain sensitive information.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1PK69371");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1PK61258");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24020788");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Apply Fix Pack 31 (6.0.2.31) or later.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");
  script_cwe_id(200, 287, 399);

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2008/10/27");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2008/10/20");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"remote");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/a:ibm:websphere_application_server");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"Web Servers");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2008-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.");

  script_dependencies("websphere_detect.nasl");
  script_require_ports("Services/www", 8880, 8881);
  script_require_keys("www/WebSphere");

  exit(0);
}


include("global_settings.inc");
include("misc_func.inc");
include("http.inc");


port = get_http_port(default:8880);


version = get_kb_item("www/WebSphere/"+port+"/version");
if (isnull(version)) exit(1, "Failed to extract the version from the IBM WebSphere Application Server instance listening on port " + port + ".");
if (version =~ "^[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?$")
  exit(1, "Failed to extract a granular version from the IBM WebSphere Application Server instance listening on port " + port + ".");

ver = split(version, sep:'.', keep:FALSE);
for (i=0; i<max_index(ver); i++)
  ver[i] = int(ver[i]);

if (
  (ver[0] == 6 && ver[1] == 0 && ver[2] < 2) ||
  (ver[0] == 6 && ver[1] == 0 && ver[2] == 2 && ver[3] < 31)
)
{
  if (report_verbosity > 0)
  {
    source = get_kb_item_or_exit("www/WebSphere/"+port+"/source");

    report = 
      '\n  Source            : ' + source + 
      '\n  Installed version : ' + version +
      '\n  Fixed version     : 6.0.2.31' +
      '\n';
    security_warning(port:port, extra:report);
  }
  else security_warning(port);
  exit(0);
}
else exit(0, "The WebSphere Application Server "+version+" instance listening on port "+port+" is not affected.");

Seebug

bulletinFamilyexploit
descriptionBUGTRAQ ID: 31839 CVE(CAN) ID: CVE-2008-4678,CVE-2008-4679 IBM Websphere应用服务器以Java和Servlet引擎为基础，支持多种HTTP服务，可帮助用户完成从开发、发布到维护交互式的动态网站的所有工作。 IBM WebSphere应用服务器的HTTP Transport组件中的HTTP_Request_Parser方式没有正确地验证用户所提交的HTTP请求。如果远程攻击者在请求中包含有超长的HTTP Host头的话，就可能导致拒绝服务（0C4控制器异常结束和应用程序挂起）。 如果将Certificate Store Collections配置为使用证书撤销列表（CRL）的话，WebSphere应用服务器的Web Services Security组件就没有对PKIXBuilderParameters对象调用setRevocationEnabled方式，导致Java安全方式无法检查X.509证书的撤销状态。远程攻击者可以通过发送带有已撤销证书的SOAP消息绕过预期的访问限制。 IBM Websphere Application Server 6.0.x IBM --- 目前厂商已经发布了升级补丁以修复这个安全问题，请到厂商的主页下载： <a href=http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27007951 target=_blank>http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27007951</a> <a href=http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006876 target=_blank>http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006876</a>
idSSV:4346
last seen2017-11-19
modified2008-10-27
published2008-10-27
reporterRoot
titleIBM WebSphere应用服务器拒绝服务及绕过安全限制漏洞

References