Vulnerabilities > CVE-2019-4046 - Resource Exhaustion vulnerability in IBM Websphere Application Server

047910
CVSS 7.5 - HIGH
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
HIGH
network
low complexity
ibm
CWE-400
nessus

Summary

IBM WebSphere Application Server 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by improper handling of request headers. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause the consumption of Memory. IBM X-Force ID: 156242.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Ibm
144

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 familyWeb Servers
NASL idWEBSPHERE_CVE-2019-4046.NASL
descriptionThe IBM WebSphere Application Server running on the remote host is version 7.0.0.0 through 7.0.0.45, 8.0.0.0 through 8.0.0.15, 8.5.x prior to 8.5.5.16, 9.0.0.x prior to 9.0.0.11, or Liberty prior to 19.0.0.4. It is, therefore, affected by a denial of service (DoS) vulnerability due to improper handling of request headers. A remote, unauthenticated attacker could exploit this to cause the consumption of memory.
last seen2020-06-01
modified2020-06-02
plugin id124024
published2019-04-12
reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/124024
titleIBM WebSphere Application Server 7.0.0.x <= 7.0.0.45 / 8.0.0.x <= 8.0.0.15 / 8.5.x < 8.5.5.16 / 9.0.0.x < 9.0.0.11 / Liberty < 19.0.0.4 Request Header Denial of Service (DoS) Vulnerability (CVE-2019-4046)
code
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(124024);
  script_version("1.4");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/02/06");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2019-4046");
  script_bugtraq_id(107623);

  script_name(english:"IBM WebSphere Application Server 7.0.0.x <= 7.0.0.45 / 8.0.0.x <= 8.0.0.15 / 8.5.x < 8.5.5.16 / 9.0.0.x < 9.0.0.11 / Liberty < 19.0.0.4 Request Header Denial of Service (DoS) Vulnerability (CVE-2019-4046)");
  script_summary(english:"Reads the version number from the SOAP and GIOP services.");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The remote web application server is affected by a denial of service
vulnerability.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"The IBM WebSphere Application Server running on the remote host is
version 7.0.0.0 through 7.0.0.45, 8.0.0.0 through 8.0.0.15, 8.5.x
prior to 8.5.5.16, 9.0.0.x prior to 9.0.0.11, or Liberty prior to
19.0.0.4. It is, therefore, affected by a denial of service (DoS)
vulnerability due to improper handling of request headers. A remote,
unauthenticated attacker could exploit this to cause the consumption
of memory.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10869570");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"Upgrade to IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5.16 or 9.0.0.11 or
Liberty 19.0.0.4 or later. Alternatively, upgrade to the minimal fix
pack levels required by the interim fix and then apply Interim Fix
PH06340.");
  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:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2019-4046");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2019/03/21");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/03/21");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/04/12");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"remote");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/a:ibm:websphere_application_server");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"potential_vulnerability", value:"true");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"Web Servers");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("websphere_detect.nasl");
  script_require_ports("Services/www", 8880, 8881, 9001);
  script_require_keys("www/WebSphere", "Settings/ParanoidReport");

  exit(0);
}

include("vcf.inc");
include("http.inc");

app = "IBM WebSphere Application Server";
get_install_count(app_name:app, exit_if_zero:TRUE);

if (report_paranoia < 2) audit(AUDIT_PARANOID);

port = get_http_port(default:8880, embedded:FALSE);

app_info = vcf::get_app_info(app:app, port:port, webapp:TRUE);

vcf::check_granularity(app_info:app_info, sig_segments:4);

fix = "Interim Fix PH06340";
constraints = [
  {"min_version":"7.0.0.0",  "max_version":"7.0.0.45", "fixed_version":fix},
  {"min_version":"8.0.0.0",  "max_version":"8.0.0.15", "fixed_version":fix},
  {"min_version":"8.5.0.0",  "max_version":"8.5.5.15", "fixed_version":"8.5.5.16 or " + fix},
  {"min_version":"9.0.0.0",  "max_version":"9.0.0.10", "fixed_version":"9.0.0.11 or " + fix},
  {"min_version":"16.0.0.2", "max_version":"19.0.0.3", "fixed_version":"19.0.0.4 or " + fix}
];

vcf::check_version_and_report(app_info:app_info, constraints:constraints, severity:SECURITY_WARNING);