Vulnerabilities > CVE-2016-1849 - Information Exposure vulnerability in Apple Safari

047910
CVSS 3.3 - LOW
Attack vector
LOCAL
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
LOW
Confidentiality impact
LOW
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
NONE
local
low complexity
apple
CWE-200
nessus
NVD
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2024-11-21

Summary

The "Clear History and Website Data" feature in Apple Safari before 9.1.1, as used in iOS before 9.3.2 and other products, mishandles the deletion of browsing history, which might allow local users to obtain sensitive information by leveraging read access to a Safari directory.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Apple
145
OS
Apple
143

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Subverting Environment Variable Values
    The attacker directly or indirectly modifies environment variables used by or controlling the target software. The attacker's goal is to cause the target software to deviate from its expected operation in a manner that benefits the attacker.
  • Footprinting
    An attacker engages in probing and exploration activity to identify constituents and properties of the target. Footprinting is a general term to describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security mechanisms of the targeted application, system or network. Information that might be collected during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and their versions, network topology, and similar information. While footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities, such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging attacks.
  • 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.
  • Browser Fingerprinting
    An attacker carefully crafts small snippets of Java Script to efficiently detect the type of browser the potential victim is using. Many web-based attacks need prior knowledge of the web browser including the version of browser to ensure successful exploitation of a vulnerability. Having this knowledge allows an attacker to target the victim with attacks that specifically exploit known or zero day weaknesses in the type and version of the browser used by the victim. Automating this process via Java Script as a part of the same delivery system used to exploit the browser is considered more efficient as the attacker can supply a browser fingerprinting method and integrate it with exploit code, all contained in Java Script and in response to the same web page request by the browser.
  • Session Credential Falsification through Prediction
    This attack targets predictable session ID in order to gain privileges. The attacker can predict the session ID used during a transaction to perform spoofing and session hijacking.

Nessus

NASL familyMacOS X Local Security Checks
NASL idMACOSX_SAFARI9_1_1.NASL
descriptionThe version of Apple Safari installed on the remote Mac OS X host is prior to 9.1.1. It is, therefore, affected by the following vulnerabilities : - An information disclosure vulnerability exists due to a failure to completely delete a user
last seen2020-06-01
modified2020-06-02
plugin id91221
published2016-05-18
reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2016-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/91221
titleMac OS X : Apple Safari < 9.1.1 Multiple Vulnerabilities
code
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(91221);
  script_version("1.8");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/11/19");

  script_cve_id(
    "CVE-2016-1849",
    "CVE-2016-1854",
    "CVE-2016-1855",
    "CVE-2016-1856",
    "CVE-2016-1857",
    "CVE-2016-1858",
    "CVE-2016-1859"
  );
  script_xref(name:"APPLE-SA", value:"APPLE-SA-2016-05-16-5");

  script_name(english:"Mac OS X : Apple Safari < 9.1.1 Multiple Vulnerabilities");
  script_summary(english:"Checks the Safari version.");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The remote host has a web browser installed that is affected by
multiple vulnerabilities.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"The version of Apple Safari installed on the remote Mac OS X host is
prior to 9.1.1. It is, therefore, affected by the following
vulnerabilities :

  - An information disclosure vulnerability exists due to a
    failure to completely delete a user's browser history
    when using the 'Clear History and Website Data' action.
    An attacker can exploit this to disclose sensitive
    information. (CVE-2016-1849)

  - Multiple memory corruption issues exist in WebKit due to
    improper validation of user-supplied input. A remote
    attacker, via a specially crafted website, can exploit
    these issues to execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2016-1854,
    CVE-2016-1855, CVE-2016-1856, CVE-2016-1857,
    CVE-2016-1859)

  - An information disclosure vulnerability exists in WebKit
    due to insufficient taint tracking. A remote attacker
    can exploit this, via a specially crafted SVG image, to
    disclose information from another website.
    (CVE-2016-1858)");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206565");
  # http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2016/May/msg00005.html
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?760f9fc8");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"Upgrade to Apple Safari version 9.1.1 or later.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2016-1859");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2016/05/16");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2016/05/16");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2016/05/18");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/a:apple:safari");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"MacOS X Local Security Checks");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2016-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("macosx_Safari31.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/MacOSX/Version", "MacOSX/Safari/Installed");

  exit(0);
}

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

if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
os = get_kb_item("Host/MacOSX/Version");
if (!os) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Mac OS X");

if (!ereg(pattern:"Mac OS X 10\.(9|10|11)([^0-9]|$)", string:os)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Mac OS X 10.9 / 10.10 / 10.11");

installed = get_kb_item_or_exit("MacOSX/Safari/Installed", exit_code:0);
path    = get_kb_item_or_exit("MacOSX/Safari/Path", exit_code:1);
version = get_kb_item_or_exit("MacOSX/Safari/Version", exit_code:1);

fixed_version = "9.1.1";

if (ver_compare(ver:version, fix:fixed_version, strict:FALSE) == -1)
{
  report = report_items_str(
    report_items:make_array(
      "Path", path,
      "Installed version", version,
      "Fixed version", fixed_version
    ),
    ordered_fields:make_list("Path", "Installed version", "Fixed version")
  );
  security_report_v4(port:0, severity:SECURITY_WARNING, extra:report);
}
else audit(AUDIT_INST_PATH_NOT_VULN, "Safari", version, path);

References