Vulnerabilities > CVE-2017-9119 - Resource Exhaustion vulnerability in multiple products

047910
CVSS 9.8 - CRITICAL
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
HIGH
Integrity impact
HIGH
Availability impact
HIGH
network
low complexity
php
netapp
CWE-400
critical
nessus

Summary

The i_zval_ptr_dtor function in Zend/zend_variables.h in PHP 7.1.5 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact by triggering crafted operations on array data structures.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Php
1
Application
Netapp
2

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • XML Ping of the Death
    An attacker initiates a resource depletion attack where a large number of small XML messages are delivered at a sufficiently rapid rate to cause a denial of service or crash of the target. Transactions such as repetitive SOAP transactions can deplete resources faster than a simple flooding attack because of the additional resources used by the SOAP protocol and the resources necessary to process SOAP messages. The transactions used are immaterial as long as they cause resource utilization on the target. In other words, this is a normal flooding attack augmented by using messages that will require extra processing on the target.
  • XML Entity Expansion
    An attacker submits an XML document to a target application where the XML document uses nested entity expansion to produce an excessively large output XML. XML allows the definition of macro-like structures that can be used to simplify the creation of complex structures. However, this capability can be abused to create excessive demands on a processor's CPU and memory. A small number of nested expansions can result in an exponential growth in demands on memory.
  • Inducing Account Lockout
    An attacker leverages the security functionality of the system aimed at thwarting potential attacks to launch a denial of service attack against a legitimate system user. Many systems, for instance, implement a password throttling mechanism that locks an account after a certain number of incorrect log in attempts. An attacker can leverage this throttling mechanism to lock a legitimate user out of their own account. The weakness that is being leveraged by an attacker is the very security feature that has been put in place to counteract attacks.
  • Violating Implicit Assumptions Regarding XML Content (aka XML Denial of Service (XDoS))
    XML Denial of Service (XDoS) can be applied to any technology that utilizes XML data. This is, of course, most distributed systems technology including Java, .Net, databases, and so on. XDoS is most closely associated with web services, SOAP, and Rest, because remote service requesters can post malicious XML payloads to the service provider designed to exhaust the service provider's memory, CPU, and/or disk space. The main weakness in XDoS is that the service provider generally must inspect, parse, and validate the XML messages to determine routing, workflow, security considerations, and so on. It is exactly these inspection, parsing, and validation routines that XDoS targets. There are three primary attack vectors that XDoS can navigate Target CPU through recursion: attacker creates a recursive payload and sends to service provider Target memory through jumbo payloads: service provider uses DOM to parse XML. DOM creates in memory representation of XML document, but when document is very large (for example, north of 1 Gb) service provider host may exhaust memory trying to build memory objects. XML Ping of death: attack service provider with numerous small files that clog the system. All of the above attacks exploit the loosely coupled nature of web services, where the service provider has little to no control over the service requester and any messages the service requester sends.

Nessus

  • NASL familyCGI abuses
    NASL idPHP_7_0_19.NASL
    descriptionAccording to its banner, the version of PHP running on the remote web server is 7.0.x prior to 7.0.19. It is, therefore, affected by the following vulnerabilities : - A memory allocation issue exists in the zend_string_extend() function in file Zend/zend_string.h when concatenating strings due to a failure to prevent changes to string objects that result in a negative length. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit this to cause a denial of service condition or possibly other unspecified impact. (CVE-2017-8923) - A memory allocation issue exists in the i_zval_ptr_dtor() function in Zend/zend_variables.h when allocating large amounts of memory. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit this, via crafted operations on array data structures, to cause a denial of service condition. (CVE-2017-9119)
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id100420
    published2017-05-25
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/100420
    titlePHP 7.0.x < 7.0.19 Multiple Vulnerabilities
    code
    #
    # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    #
    
    include("compat.inc");
    
    if (description)
    {
      script_id(100420);
      script_version("1.5");
      script_cvs_date("Date: 2018/07/24 18:56:10");
    
      script_cve_id(
        "CVE-2017-8923",
        "CVE-2017-9119"
      );
      script_bugtraq_id(
        98518,
        98596
      );
    
      script_name(english:"PHP 7.0.x < 7.0.19 Multiple Vulnerabilities");
      script_summary(english:"Checks the version of PHP.");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
    "The version of PHP running on the remote web server is affected by
    multiple vulnerabilities.");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
    "According to its banner, the version of PHP running on the remote web
    server is 7.0.x prior to 7.0.19. It is, therefore, affected by the
    following vulnerabilities :
    
      - A memory allocation issue exists in the
        zend_string_extend() function in file Zend/zend_string.h
        when concatenating strings due to a failure to prevent
        changes to string objects that result in a negative
        length. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit
        this to cause a denial of service condition or possibly
        other unspecified impact. (CVE-2017-8923)
    
      - A memory allocation issue exists in the
        i_zval_ptr_dtor() function in Zend/zend_variables.h when
        allocating large amounts of memory. An unauthenticated,
        remote attacker can exploit this, via crafted operations
        on array data structures, to cause a denial of service
        condition. (CVE-2017-9119)");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://php.net/ChangeLog-7.php#7.0.19");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
    "Upgrade to PHP version 7.0.19 or later.");
      script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/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:N/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:"exploitability_ease", value:"No exploit is required");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2016/09/20");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2017/05/11");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2017/05/25");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"remote");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/a:php:php");
      script_end_attributes();
    
      script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
      script_family(english:"CGI abuses");
    
      script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.");
    
      script_dependencies("php_version.nasl");
      script_require_keys("www/PHP");
      script_require_ports("Services/www", 80);
    
      exit(0);
    }
    
    include("audit.inc");
    include("global_settings.inc");
    include("misc_func.inc");
    include("http.inc");
    include("webapp_func.inc");
    
    port = get_http_port(default:80, php:TRUE);
    
    php = get_php_from_kb(
      port : port,
      exit_on_fail : TRUE
    );
    
    version = php["ver"];
    source = php["src"];
    
    backported = get_kb_item('www/php/'+port+'/'+version+'/backported');
    
    if (report_paranoia < 2 && backported)
      audit(AUDIT_BACKPORT_SERVICE, port, "PHP "+version+" install");
    
    # Check that it is the correct version of PHP
    if (version =~ "^7(\.0)?$") audit(AUDIT_VER_NOT_GRANULAR, "PHP", port, version);
    if (version !~ "^7\.0\.") audit(AUDIT_NOT_DETECT, "PHP version 7.0.x", port);
    
    fix = "7.0.19";
    if (ver_compare(ver:version, fix:fix, strict:FALSE) < 0)
    {
      report =
        '\n  Version source    : ' + source +
        '\n  Installed version : ' + version +
        '\n  Fixed version     : ' + fix +
        '\n';
      security_report_v4(port:port, extra:report, severity:SECURITY_HOLE);
    }
    else audit(AUDIT_LISTEN_NOT_VULN, "PHP", port, version);
    
    
  • NASL familyCGI abuses
    NASL idPHP_7_1_5.NASL
    descriptionAccording to its banner, the version of PHP running on the remote web server is 7.1.x prior to 7.1.5. It is, therefore, affected by the following vulnerabilities : - A memory allocation issue exists in the zend_string_extend() function in file Zend/zend_string.h when concatenating strings due to a failure to prevent changes to string objects that result in a negative length. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit this to cause a denial of service condition or possibly other unspecified impact. (CVE-2017-8923) - A memory allocation issue exists in the i_zval_ptr_dtor() function in Zend/zend_variables.h when allocating large amounts of memory. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit this, via crafted operations on array data structures, to cause a denial of service condition. (CVE-2017-9119)
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id100421
    published2017-05-25
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/100421
    titlePHP 7.1.x < 7.1.5 Multiple Vulnerabilities
    code
    #
    # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    #
    
    include("compat.inc");
    
    if (description)
    {
      script_id(100421);
      script_version("1.5");
      script_cvs_date("Date: 2018/07/24 18:56:10");
    
      script_cve_id(
        "CVE-2017-8923",
        "CVE-2017-9119"
      );
      script_bugtraq_id(
        98518,
        98596
      );
    
      script_name(english:"PHP 7.1.x < 7.1.5 Multiple Vulnerabilities");
      script_summary(english:"Checks the version of PHP.");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
    "The version of PHP running on the remote web server is affected by
    multiple vulnerabilities.");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
    "According to its banner, the version of PHP running on the remote web
    server is 7.1.x prior to 7.1.5. It is, therefore, affected by the
    following vulnerabilities :
    
      - A memory allocation issue exists in the
        zend_string_extend() function in file Zend/zend_string.h
        when concatenating strings due to a failure to prevent
        changes to string objects that result in a negative
        length. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit
        this to cause a denial of service condition or possibly
        other unspecified impact. (CVE-2017-8923)
    
      - A memory allocation issue exists in the
        i_zval_ptr_dtor() function in Zend/zend_variables.h when
        allocating large amounts of memory. An unauthenticated,
        remote attacker can exploit this, via crafted operations
        on array data structures, to cause a denial of service
        condition. (CVE-2017-9119)");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://php.net/ChangeLog-7.php#7.1.5");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
    "Upgrade to PHP version 7.1.5 or later.");
      script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/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:N/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:"exploitability_ease", value:"No exploit is required");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2016/09/20");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2017/05/11");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2017/05/25");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"remote");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/a:php:php");
      script_end_attributes();
    
      script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
      script_family(english:"CGI abuses");
    
      script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.");
    
      script_dependencies("php_version.nasl");
      script_require_keys("www/PHP");
      script_require_ports("Services/www", 80);
    
      exit(0);
    }
    
    include("audit.inc");
    include("global_settings.inc");
    include("misc_func.inc");
    include("http.inc");
    include("webapp_func.inc");
    
    port = get_http_port(default:80, php:TRUE);
    
    php = get_php_from_kb(
      port : port,
      exit_on_fail : TRUE
    );
    
    version = php["ver"];
    source = php["src"];
    
    backported = get_kb_item('www/php/'+port+'/'+version+'/backported');
    
    if (report_paranoia < 2 && backported)
      audit(AUDIT_BACKPORT_SERVICE, port, "PHP "+version+" install");
    
    # Check that it is the correct version of PHP
    if (version =~ "^7(\.1)?$") audit(AUDIT_VER_NOT_GRANULAR, "PHP", port, version);
    if (version !~ "^7\.1\.") audit(AUDIT_NOT_DETECT, "PHP version 7.1.x", port);
    
    fix = "7.1.5";
    if (ver_compare(ver:version, fix:fix, strict:FALSE) < 0)
    {
      report =
        '\n  Version source    : ' + source +
        '\n  Installed version : ' + version +
        '\n  Fixed version     : ' + fix +
        '\n';
      security_report_v4(port:port, extra:report, severity:SECURITY_HOLE);
    }
    else audit(AUDIT_LISTEN_NOT_VULN, "PHP", port, version);