Vulnerabilities > CVE-2015-8985 - Data Processing Errors vulnerability in GNU Glibc

047910
CVSS 5.9 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
HIGH
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
HIGH
network
high complexity
gnu
CWE-19
nessus
NVD
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2024-11-21

Summary

The pop_fail_stack function in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (assertion failure and application crash) via vectors related to extended regular expression processing.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Gnu
123

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Overflow Buffers
    Buffer Overflow attacks target improper or missing bounds checking on buffer operations, typically triggered by input injected by an attacker. As a consequence, an attacker is able to write past the boundaries of allocated buffer regions in memory, causing a program crash or potentially redirection of execution as per the attackers' choice.
  • XML Nested Payloads
    Applications often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. By nesting XML data and causing this data to be continuously self-referential, an attacker can cause the XML parser to consume more resources while processing, causing excessive memory consumption and CPU utilization. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In most cases this type of an attack will result in a denial of service due to an application becoming unstable, freezing, or crash. However it may be possible to cause a crash resulting in arbitrary code execution, leading to a jump from the data plane to the control plane [R.230.1].
  • XML Oversized Payloads
    Applications often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. By supplying oversized payloads in input vectors that will be processed by the XML parser, an attacker can cause the XML parser to consume more resources while processing, causing excessive memory consumption and CPU utilization, and potentially cause execution of arbitrary code. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In many cases this type of an attack will result in a denial of service due to an application becoming unstable, freezing, or crash. However it is possible to cause a crash resulting in arbitrary code execution, leading to a jump from the data plane to the control plane [R.231.1].
  • XML Client-Side Attack
    Client applications such as web browsers that process HTML data often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. These adverse effects may include the parser crashing, consuming too much of a resource, executing too slowly, executing code supplied by an attacker, allowing usage of unintended system functionality, etc. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In some cases it may be possible to jump from the data plane to the control plane via bad data being passed to an XML parser. [R.484.1]
  • XML Parser Attack
    Applications often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. These adverse effects may include the parser crashing, consuming too much of a resource, executing too slowly, executing code supplied by an attacker, allowing usage of unintended system functionality, etc. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In some cases it may be possible to jump from the data plane to the control plane via bad data being passed to an XML parser. [R.99.1]

Nessus

NASL familyGentoo Local Security Checks
NASL idGENTOO_GLSA-201908-06.NASL
descriptionThe remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201908-06 (glibc: Multiple vulnerabilities) Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in glibc. Please review the CVE identifiers referenced below for details. Impact : Please review the referenced CVE identifiers for details. Workaround : There is no known workaround at this time.
last seen2020-06-01
modified2020-06-02
plugin id127955
published2019-08-20
reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/127955
titleGLSA-201908-06 : glibc: Multiple vulnerabilities
code
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 201908-06.
#
# The advisory text is Copyright (C) 2001-2020 Gentoo Foundation, Inc.
# and licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike 
# license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(127955);
  script_version("1.2");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/01/02");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2015-8985", "CVE-2016-6263", "CVE-2018-19591");
  script_xref(name:"GLSA", value:"201908-06");

  script_name(english:"GLSA-201908-06 : glibc: Multiple vulnerabilities");
  script_summary(english:"Checks for updated package(s) in /var/db/pkg");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:
"The remote Gentoo host is missing one or more security-related
patches."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201908-06
(glibc: Multiple vulnerabilities)

    Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in glibc. Please review
      the CVE identifiers referenced below for details.
  
Impact :

    Please review the referenced CVE identifiers for details.
  
Workaround :

    There is no known workaround at this time."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201908-06"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"solution", 
    value:
"All glibc users should upgrade to the latest version:
      # emerge --sync
      # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose '>=sys-libs/glibc-2.28-r4'"
  );
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:gentoo:linux:glibc");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:gentoo:linux");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2016/09/07");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/08/15");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/08/20");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"Gentoo Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/Gentoo/release", "Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list");

  exit(0);
}


include("audit.inc");
include("global_settings.inc");
include("qpkg.inc");

if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
if (!get_kb_item("Host/Gentoo/release")) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Gentoo");
if (!get_kb_item("Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);


flag = 0;

if (qpkg_check(package:"sys-libs/glibc", unaffected:make_list("ge 2.28-r4"), vulnerable:make_list("lt 2.28-r4"))) flag++;

if (flag)
{
  if (report_verbosity > 0) security_warning(port:0, extra:qpkg_report_get());
  else security_warning(0);
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  tested = qpkg_tests_get();
  if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
  else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "glibc");
}

References