Vulnerabilities > CVE-2012-5703 - Improper Input Validation vulnerability in VMWare ESX and Esxi
Attack vector
NETWORK Attack complexity
LOW Privileges required
NONE Confidentiality impact
NONE Integrity impact
NONE Availability impact
PARTIAL Summary
The vSphere API in VMware ESXi 4.1 and ESX 4.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (host daemon crash) via an invalid value in a (1) RetrieveProp or (2) RetrievePropEx SOAP request.
Vulnerable Configurations
| Part | Description | Count |
|---|---|---|
| OS | 2 |
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables This attack pattern involves causing a buffer overflow through manipulation of environment variables. Once the attacker finds that they can modify an environment variable, they may try to overflow associated buffers. This attack leverages implicit trust often placed in environment variables.
- Server Side Include (SSI) Injection An attacker can use Server Side Include (SSI) Injection to send code to a web application that then gets executed by the web server. Doing so enables the attacker to achieve similar results to Cross Site Scripting, viz., arbitrary code execution and information disclosure, albeit on a more limited scale, since the SSI directives are nowhere near as powerful as a full-fledged scripting language. Nonetheless, the attacker can conveniently gain access to sensitive files, such as password files, and execute shell commands.
- Cross Zone Scripting An attacker is able to cause a victim to load content into their web-browser that bypasses security zone controls and gain access to increased privileges to execute scripting code or other web objects such as unsigned ActiveX controls or applets. This is a privilege elevation attack targeted at zone-based web-browser security. In a zone-based model, pages belong to one of a set of zones corresponding to the level of privilege assigned to that page. Pages in an untrusted zone would have a lesser level of access to the system and/or be restricted in the types of executable content it was allowed to invoke. In a cross-zone scripting attack, a page that should be assigned to a less privileged zone is granted the privileges of a more trusted zone. This can be accomplished by exploiting bugs in the browser, exploiting incorrect configuration in the zone controls, through a cross-site scripting attack that causes the attackers' content to be treated as coming from a more trusted page, or by leveraging some piece of system functionality that is accessible from both the trusted and less trusted zone. This attack differs from "Restful Privilege Escalation" in that the latter correlates to the inadequate securing of RESTful access methods (such as HTTP DELETE) on the server, while cross-zone scripting attacks the concept of security zones as implemented by a browser.
- Cross Site Scripting through Log Files An attacker may leverage a system weakness where logs are susceptible to log injection to insert scripts into the system's logs. If these logs are later viewed by an administrator through a thin administrative interface and the log data is not properly HTML encoded before being written to the page, the attackers' scripts stored in the log will be executed in the administrative interface with potentially serious consequences. This attack pattern is really a combination of two other attack patterns: log injection and stored cross site scripting.
- Command Line Execution through SQL Injection An attacker uses standard SQL injection methods to inject data into the command line for execution. This could be done directly through misuse of directives such as MSSQL_xp_cmdshell or indirectly through injection of data into the database that would be interpreted as shell commands. Sometime later, an unscrupulous backend application (or could be part of the functionality of the same application) fetches the injected data stored in the database and uses this data as command line arguments without performing proper validation. The malicious data escapes that data plane by spawning new commands to be executed on the host.
Nessus
NASL family Misc. NASL id VMWARE_VMSA-2012-0016_REMOTE.NASL description The remote VMware ESX / ESXi host is missing a security-related patch. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities, including remote code execution vulnerabilities, in several components and third-party libraries : - bind - expat - nspr and nss - python - vSphere API last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 89039 published 2016-02-29 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2016-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/89039 title VMware ESX / ESXi Multiple Vulnerabilities (VMSA-2012-0016) (remote check) code # # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc. # include("compat.inc"); if (description) { script_id(89039); script_version("1.5"); script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/11/19"); script_cve_id( "CVE-2011-4940", "CVE-2011-4944", "CVE-2012-0441", "CVE-2012-0876", "CVE-2012-1033", "CVE-2012-1148", "CVE-2012-1150", "CVE-2012-1667", "CVE-2012-3817", "CVE-2012-5703" ); script_bugtraq_id( 51239, 51898, 52379, 52732, 53772, 54083, 54658, 56571 ); script_xref(name:"VMSA", value:"2012-0016"); script_name(english:"VMware ESX / ESXi Multiple Vulnerabilities (VMSA-2012-0016) (remote check)"); script_summary(english:"Checks the ESX / ESXi version and build number."); script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value: "The remote VMware ESX / ESXi host is missing a security-related patch."); script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value: "The remote VMware ESX / ESXi host is missing a security-related patch. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities, including remote code execution vulnerabilities, in several components and third-party libraries : - bind - expat - nspr and nss - python - vSphere API"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2012-0016.html"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value: "Apply the appropriate patch according to the vendor advisory that pertains to ESX version 4.1 or ESXi version 4.1."); script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:C"); script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:F/RL:OF/RC:C"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2012-1667"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"Exploits are available"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"true"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_framework_core", value:"true"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2012/11/15"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2012/11/15"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2016/02/29"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"remote"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:vmware:esx"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:vmware:esxi"); script_end_attributes(); script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO); script_family(english:"Misc."); script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2016-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof."); script_dependencies("vmware_vsphere_detect.nbin"); script_require_keys("Host/VMware/version", "Host/VMware/release"); script_require_ports("Host/VMware/vsphere"); exit(0); } include("audit.inc"); include("global_settings.inc"); include("misc_func.inc"); version = get_kb_item_or_exit("Host/VMware/version"); release = get_kb_item_or_exit("Host/VMware/release"); port = get_kb_item_or_exit("Host/VMware/vsphere"); # Version + build map # https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1014508 fixes = make_array(); fixes["ESXi 4.1"] = 874690; fixes["ESX 4.1"] = 874690; matches = eregmatch(pattern:'^VMware (ESXi?).*build-([0-9]+)$', string:release); if (empty_or_null(matches)) exit(1, 'Failed to extract the ESX / ESXi build number.'); type = matches[1]; build = int(matches[2]); fixed_build = fixes[version]; if (!isnull(fixed_build) && build < fixed_build) { padding = crap(data:" ", length:8 - strlen(type)); # Spacing alignment report = '\n ' + type + ' version' + padding + ': ' + version + '\n Installed build : ' + build + '\n Fixed build : ' + fixed_build + '\n'; security_report_v4(extra:report, port:port, severity:SECURITY_HOLE); } else audit(AUDIT_INST_VER_NOT_VULN, "VMware " + version + " build " + build);NASL family VMware ESX Local Security Checks NASL id VMWARE_VMSA-2012-0016.NASL description a. VMware vSphere API denial of service vulnerability The VMware vSphere API contains a denial of service vulnerability. This issue allows an unauthenticated user to send a maliciously crafted API request and disable the host daemon. Exploitation of the issue would prevent management activities on the host but any virtual machines running on the host would be unaffected. VMware would like to thank Sebastian Tello of Core Security Technologies for reporting this issue to us. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2012-5703 to this issue. b. Update to ESX service console bind packages The ESX service console bind packages are updated to the following versions : bind-libs-9.3.6-20.P1.el5_8.2 bind-utils-9.3.6-20.P1.el5_8.2 These updates fix multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2012-1033, CVE-2012-1667, and CVE-2012-3817 to these issues. c. Update to ESX service console python packages The ESX service console Python packages are updated to the following versions : python-2.4.3-46.el5_8.2.x86_64 python-libs-2.4.3-46.el5_8.2.x86_64 These updates fix multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2011-4940, CVE-2011-4944, and CVE-2012-1150 to these issues. d. Update to ESX service console expat package The ESX service console expat package is updated to expat-1.95.8-11.el5_8. This update fixes multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2012-0876 and CVE-2012-1148 to these issues. e. Update to ESX service console nspr and nss packages This patch updates the ESX service console Netscape Portable Runtime and Network Security Services RPMs to versions nspr-4.9.1.4.el5_8 and nss-3.13.5.4.9834, respectively, to resolve multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2012-0441 to this issue. This patch also resolves a certificate trust issue caused by a fraudulent DigiNotar root certificate. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 62944 published 2012-11-16 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2012-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/62944 title VMSA-2012-0016 : VMware security updates for vSphere API and ESX Service Console code # # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc. # # The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were # extracted from VMware Security Advisory 2012-0016. # The text itself is copyright (C) VMware Inc. # include("compat.inc"); if (description) { script_id(62944); script_version("1.20"); script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/09/24 15:02:54"); script_cve_id("CVE-2011-4940", "CVE-2011-4944", "CVE-2012-0441", "CVE-2012-0876", "CVE-2012-1033", "CVE-2012-1148", "CVE-2012-1150", "CVE-2012-1667", "CVE-2012-3817", "CVE-2012-5703"); script_bugtraq_id(51239, 51898, 52379, 52732, 53772, 54083, 54658, 56571); script_xref(name:"VMSA", value:"2012-0016"); script_name(english:"VMSA-2012-0016 : VMware security updates for vSphere API and ESX Service Console"); script_summary(english:"Checks esxupdate output for the patches"); script_set_attribute( attribute:"synopsis", value: "The remote VMware ESXi / ESX host is missing one or more security-related patches." ); script_set_attribute( attribute:"description", value: "a. VMware vSphere API denial of service vulnerability The VMware vSphere API contains a denial of service vulnerability. This issue allows an unauthenticated user to send a maliciously crafted API request and disable the host daemon. Exploitation of the issue would prevent management activities on the host but any virtual machines running on the host would be unaffected. VMware would like to thank Sebastian Tello of Core Security Technologies for reporting this issue to us. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2012-5703 to this issue. b. Update to ESX service console bind packages The ESX service console bind packages are updated to the following versions : bind-libs-9.3.6-20.P1.el5_8.2 bind-utils-9.3.6-20.P1.el5_8.2 These updates fix multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2012-1033, CVE-2012-1667, and CVE-2012-3817 to these issues. c. Update to ESX service console python packages The ESX service console Python packages are updated to the following versions : python-2.4.3-46.el5_8.2.x86_64 python-libs-2.4.3-46.el5_8.2.x86_64 These updates fix multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2011-4940, CVE-2011-4944, and CVE-2012-1150 to these issues. d. Update to ESX service console expat package The ESX service console expat package is updated to expat-1.95.8-11.el5_8. This update fixes multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2012-0876 and CVE-2012-1148 to these issues. e. Update to ESX service console nspr and nss packages This patch updates the ESX service console Netscape Portable Runtime and Network Security Services RPMs to versions nspr-4.9.1.4.el5_8 and nss-3.13.5.4.9834, respectively, to resolve multiple security issues. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2012-0441 to this issue. This patch also resolves a certificate trust issue caused by a fraudulent DigiNotar root certificate." ); script_set_attribute( attribute:"see_also", value:"http://lists.vmware.com/pipermail/security-announce/2012/000194.html" ); script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Apply the missing patches."); script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:C"); script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:F/RL:OF/RC:C"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"Exploits are available"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"true"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_framework_core", value:"true"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:vmware:esx:4.1"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:vmware:esxi:4.1"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2012/11/15"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2012/11/16"); script_end_attributes(); script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO); script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2012-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc."); script_family(english:"VMware ESX Local Security Checks"); script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl"); script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/VMware/release", "Host/VMware/version"); script_require_ports("Host/VMware/esxupdate", "Host/VMware/esxcli_software_vibs"); exit(0); } include("audit.inc"); include("vmware_esx_packages.inc"); if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED); if (!get_kb_item("Host/VMware/release")) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "VMware ESX / ESXi"); if ( !get_kb_item("Host/VMware/esxcli_software_vibs") && !get_kb_item("Host/VMware/esxupdate") ) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING); init_esx_check(date:"2012-11-15"); flag = 0; if ( esx_check( ver : "ESX 4.1", patch : "ESX410-201211401-SG", patch_updates : make_list("ESX410-201301401-SG", "ESX410-201304401-SG", "ESX410-201307401-SG", "ESX410-201312401-SG", "ESX410-201404401-SG") ) ) flag++; if ( esx_check( ver : "ESX 4.1", patch : "ESX410-201211402-SG", patch_updates : make_list("ESX410-201301402-SG") ) ) flag++; if ( esx_check( ver : "ESX 4.1", patch : "ESX410-201211405-SG", patch_updates : make_list("ESX410-201307402-SG", "ESX410-201312403-SG") ) ) flag++; if (esx_check(ver:"ESX 4.1", patch:"ESX410-201211407-SG")) flag++; if ( esx_check( ver : "ESXi 4.1", patch : "ESXi410-201211401-SG", patch_updates : make_list("ESXi410-201301401-SG", "ESXi410-201304401-SG", "ESXi410-201307401-SG", "ESXi410-201312401-SG", "ESXi410-201404401-SG") ) ) flag++; if (flag) { if (report_verbosity > 0) security_hole(port:0, extra:esx_report_get()); else security_hole(0); exit(0); } else audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, "affected");