Vulnerabilities > CVE-2017-8335 - Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer vulnerability in Securifi products

047910
CVSS 6.0 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
MEDIUM
Privileges required
SINGLE
Confidentiality impact
PARTIAL
Integrity impact
PARTIAL
Availability impact
PARTIAL

Summary

An issue was discovered on Securifi Almond, Almond+, and Almond 2015 devices with firmware AL-R096. The device provides a user with the capability of setting name for wireless network. These values are stored by the device in NVRAM (Non-volatile RAM). It seems that the POST parameters passed in this request to set up names on the device do not have a string length check on them. This allows an attacker to send a large payload in the "mssid_1" POST parameter. The device also allows a user to view the name of the Wifi Network set by the user. While processing this request, the device calls a function named "getCfgToHTML" at address 0x004268A8 which retrieves the value set earlier by "mssid_1" parameter as SSID2 and this value then results in overflowing the stack set up for this function and allows an attacker to control $ra register value on the stack which allows an attacker to control the device by executing a payload of an attacker's choice. If the firmware version AL-R096 is dissected using binwalk tool, we obtain a cpio-root archive which contains the filesystem set up on the device that contains all the binaries. The binary "goahead" is the one that has the vulnerable function that recieves the values sent by the POST request. If we open this binary in IDA-pro we will notice that this follows a MIPS little endian format. The function sub_00420F38 in IDA pro is identified to be receiving the values sent in the POST parameter "mssid_1" at address 0x0042BA00 and then sets in the NVRAM at address 0x0042C314. The value is later retrieved in the function "getCfgToHTML" at address 0x00426924 and this results in overflowing the buffer due to "strcat" function that is utilized by this function.

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.
  • 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.
  • Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow
    This type of attack exploits a buffer overflow vulnerability in targeted client software through injection of malicious content from a custom-built hostile service.
  • Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow
    In this attack, the idea is to cause an active filter to fail by causing an oversized transaction. An attacker may try to feed overly long input strings to the program in an attempt to overwhelm the filter (by causing a buffer overflow) and hoping that the filter does not fail securely (i.e. the user input is let into the system unfiltered).
  • MIME Conversion
    An attacker exploits a weakness in the MIME conversion routine to cause a buffer overflow and gain control over the mail server machine. The MIME system is designed to allow various different information formats to be interpreted and sent via e-mail. Attack points exist when data are converted to MIME compatible format and back.