Vulnerabilities > CVE-2021-32781 - Classic Buffer Overflow vulnerability in Envoyproxy Envoy
Summary
Envoy is an open source L7 proxy and communication bus designed for large modern service oriented architectures. In affected versions after Envoy sends a locally generated response it must stop further processing of request or response data. However when local response is generated due the internal buffer overflow while request or response is processed by the filter chain the operation may not be stopped completely and result in accessing a freed memory block. A specifically constructed request delivered by an untrusted downstream or upstream peer in the presence of extensions that modify and increase the size of request or response bodies resulting in a Denial of Service when using extensions that modify and increase the size of request or response bodies, such as decompressor filter. Envoy versions 1.19.1, 1.18.4, 1.17.4, 1.16.5 contain fixes to address incomplete termination of request processing after locally generated response. As a workaround disable Envoy's decompressor, json-transcoder or grpc-web extensions or proprietary extensions that modify and increase the size of request or response bodies, if feasible.
Vulnerable Configurations
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
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.