Author: viviandufour

Vulnerability Focus: PHP

viviandufour, , , 1 Comment

5min read

Image of thief climbing out of laptop shining flashlight on PHP icon, titled Vulnerability Focus: PHP.

Listen up, app sec community – Meterian has an exciting update! We have a new addition to our family of languages for which our vulnerability scanning solution operates on. Drumroll please… it’s PHP. This means another layer of defense for your apps’ open-source dependencies to  shield them against malicious exploits. To commemorate this special day, we have written on 2 high-priority PHP vulnerabilities which will undoubtedly make an interesting read!

  • CVE-2019-9081 A vulnerability in the Illuminate component of Laravel Framework 5.7.x. could result in a remote cyber attack impacting confidentiality, integrity and availability in the process of web development.
  • CVE-2019-14933 A CSRF vulnerability in the Bagisto framework v0.1.5 could lead to attackers removing or manipulating important functionalities which will cause mass denial of services within an application.

CVE-2019-9081 

Vulnerability Score: Critical––9.8 (CVSS v3.0)

Platform: PHP

Component: laravel/laravel

Affected versions: 5.7.0 – 5.7.27

Attention to all PHP programmers! Read up, this is important stuff. On the 24/02/19, a vulnerability was found in the Illuminate component of Laravel Framework 5.7.x., a PHP development framework based on PHP 7.1.3. The severity of the threat is understood when seeing that 107,933 live websites use Laravel. It is also said to be the most popular web app category in the United Kingdom. This demonstrates the scale of potentially affected users, and why action needs to be taken quickly to avoid security flaws. 

A graph depicting the rise in Laravel Usage Statistics. The statistics range from the years 2013-2019.
Laravel Usage Statistics: https://trends.builtwith.com/framework/Laravel

The vulnerability is related to the __destruct method of the PendingCommand class in PendingCommand.php. It is a deserialization RCE (Remote Code Execution) vulnerability originating from a laravel core package and has shown to be triggered as long as the deserialized content is controllable. The access vector was through the network.

So what is the threat? In regards to CWE-502, when developers place restrictions on ‘gadget chains’ and method invocations that can self-execute during the deserialization process, this can allow attackers to leverage them to make unauthorized actions. For example, generating a shell. Manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privilege escalation vulnerability (code execution). Therefore, this vulnerability could have a negative impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability. Even worse, an attack can be initiated remotely with no form of authentication needed for exploitation. 

It is suggested to upgrade the laravel framework to version 5.7.27 or higher as soon as possible. So don’t waste any time! Or risk being vulnerable to potential cyber attacks!

CVE-2019-14933

Vulnerability Score: High — 8.8 (CVSS v3.0)

Platform: PHP

Component: bagisto

Affected versions: 0.1.5

Bagisto is a tailored e-commerce framework designed on some of the hottest open-source technologies such as Laravel, a PHP framework.  It cuts down on the resources needed to deploy an e-commerce platform (i.e. building online stores or migrating from physical stores). 

Alas, we regret to be the bearer of bad news. Version 0.1.5 of Bagisto has been found to contain a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability which could result in client side manipulation that forces end users to execute unwarranted commands on a web application for which they are currently authenticated.  It should be noted that this compromised version allows for CSRF attacks under certain conditions, such as admin Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs).  This CSRF vulnerability manipulates authenticated users’ browsers to send forged HTTP requests, including cookie sessions to exposed web applications. 

Here is some background information on the nature of CSRF attacks. Unlike remote code execution or command injection attacks, CSRF attacks specifically target state-changing requests as opposed to misappropriation of restricted data. Nonetheless, unauthorised state-changing requests can be equally bad; with the help of social engineering tactics (i.e. sending unwarranted links via email or chat support), attackers may trick end users into executing unsanctioned commands of the attackers’ choice. A successful CSRF attack could lead to vexing situations whereby attackers coerce end users into performing fund transfers, email address changes, and so forth. Furthermore, CSRF attacks can go as far as compromising entire web application systems upon gaining access to an administrator account.

In this context, hackers can trick end users by sending requests (i.e phishing emails) to lure them to open and display some apparently innocuous content in a new tab on the browser, which in turn, prompts it to execute the hidden malicious script, than can operate on behalf of the user.

This is a graphic illustrating the play-by-plat on how attackers can exploit the vulnerability to perform CSRF and remove important functionalities, which could lead to denial of services and loss of data on an e-commerce platform.
How attackers can exploit Bagisto open-source vulnerability

 The graphic above illustrates the play-by-play on how attackers can exploit this vulnerability to perform CSRF and remove important functionalities, which could lead to denial of services and loss of data on an e-commerce platform. 

In Step 1, the user first logs into the Bagisto admin page panel and subsequently  accesses a seemingly innocuous website on another tab in the user’s browser. This website contains a malignant script (placed by the hacker), and the action of accessing this tab will lead to Step 3 where the script will be executed; the browser is instructed by said script to perform any possible harmful action on behalf of the user in Step 3. This course of user action culminates in Step 4 with the server executing the requested malicious actions, such as deleting data on the admin panel.

Nonetheless, affected users will be glad to know that all versions of Bagisto following v0.1.5 are untouched by this CSRF vulnerability. So, there you have it – update your application to the latest version of the Bagisto framework at the soonest to avoid further exposure!

Spread the word on these vulnerabilities and their fixes to help us improve application security all-around. In any case, you can certainly expect more engaging reads on PHP in the near future. Until then!

Knowing is half the battle. The other half is doing. Let Meterian help your dev team stay in the know and on top of the latest updates to secure your apps continuously.  Sign up here to download the Meterian client today.  You’ll get an instant analysis of your first project for free.  See the risks immediately and know which components to remove or upgrade to secure your app.

Vulnerability Focus: PHP

Vulnerability Focus: Command Injection

viviandufour, , , , Leave a comment

5min read

Image of thief climbing out of laptop shining flashlight on ruby, java icons with a syringe, titled Vulnerability Focus: Command Injection

At attention, app sec community! It has been an exciting past couple of weeks, and we have got some juicy vulnerabilities to dish on. From Apache commons to the extensively-used Nokogiri library,  we will shed light on two compelling command injection vulnerabilities that rank highly on the common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS). Read along and spread the word to help combat against open source vulnerabilities.

  • CVE-2019-10086 The SuppressPropertiesBeanIntrospector class in versions before 1.9.4 of BeanUtils in Apache commons was not enabled by default

  • CVE-2019-5477 An inherent flaw in the Ruby Rexical gem v.1.0.6 or earlier, due to improper neutralization of special elements, resulted in a command injection vulnerability in the Nokogiri gem

CVE-2019-10086

Vulnerability Score: High — 7.3 (CVSS v3.0)

Platform: Java

Component: commons-beanutils

Affected versions: 1.9.3 and earlier

Take heed, all you Java programmers: a vulnerability has been located within Apache commons,  a provider of reusable open source Java component. There lies an arbitrary code vulnerability in the BeanUtils component, a set of utilities used for manipulation of JavaBeans code.

Within the BeanUtils component, there are several class types, or PropertyUtils beans, that  support mechanisms for dynamically defining and accessing bean properties (i.e. Bean Introspection) – these sets of utilities that assist in getting and setting property values on Java classes utilise the BeanIntrospector interface for components that can perform introspection on bean classes. 

Class TypeDescription
DefaultBeanIntrospectorThe default BeanIntrospector implementation

FluentPropertyBeanIntrospector		An implementation which detects write methods for properties used in fluent API scenario
SuppressPropertiesBeanIntrospector**A specialized BeanIntrospector implementation which suppresses some properties.

Example of class types and their functions
** highlights affected component in this CVE incident

In the context of this security flaw, the vulnerability originates from the SuppressPropertiesBeanIntrospector class type. This BeanIntrospector class type  is a standard implementation within a BeanUtils component which suppresses the ability for malicious attackers  to circumvent class properties of Java objects to gain access to the classloader. However, this safeguard mechanism against third-party exploitations of Java objects, was not enabled by default for version 1.9.2 – 1.9.3 of BeanUtils. 

This thereby allows attackers to manipulate classloaders and remotely execute arbitrary commands via class parameter, which would be detrimental to application security. Cyber attackers could potentially take advantage of this command injection loophole to inject malignant code into an application system through cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site request forgery (XSRF), or drive-by attacks – this would then result in security breaches and a whole slew of inconvenience for organizations using  compromised versions of this BeanUtils component.

Affected users would be relieved to know that the fix for this vulnerability, version 1.9.4 of BeanUtils, has since been published. The security patch for apache-commons-beanutils has fixed the security flaw by adding a special BeanIntrospector class; this class type comprehensively suppresses the ability for any third party to access the classloader through the outmanoeuvring of class properties available on all Java objects – we can declare with utmost confidence that the updated BeanUtils bean prohibits all class level property access by default.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, application systems that are using versions before 1.9.4 of the BeanUtils component ought to migrate to the latest version at the soonest. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

CVE-2019-5477

Vulnerability Score: Critical — 9.8 (CVSS v3.0)

Platform: Ruby

Components: Rexical, Nokogiri

Affected versions: Rexical: 1.0.6 and earlier, Nokogiri: 1.10.3 and earlier

Mayday. I repeat, Mayday. Ruby users – watch out! A critical open-source security flaw has been located in Nokogiri, an open-source software library used to parse HTML and XML in Ruby. To provide some contextual information about its popularity, Nokogiri is indisputably one of the most downloaded Ruby gems – it has been downloaded over 240 million times from the rubygems.org. This translates into a potentially vast network of compromised users – it would be prudent for affected parties to understand the type of security flaw they are dealing with.

In versions Nokogiri 1.10.3 or earlier, a command injection vulnerability allows attackers to alter dynamically generated content on a web page by inserting HTML code into input mechanisms that lack effective validation constraints. These commands are then executed in a subprocess via the kernel#open method, which renders an application vulnerable to remote code execution due to improper neutralization of special elements used in a command injection.

This is due to the core functionality of the kernel#open method. When instructed with a file path (defaulting with ‘r’) , it treats the script as the name of a file to open using the specified mode; but when the file path starts with a pipe character ‘I’, it interprets it as a shell command and returns an IO class linked to the subprocess.  In the context of this Nokogiri security flaw, these subprocesses are only exposed if the (undocumented) kernel#open method “Nokogiri::CSS:: Tokenizer#load_file” is executed with unvalidated user input in its filename.

This particular vulnerability exposure appears in the codework generated by Rexical gem versions 1.0.6 or earlier. The Rexical gem facilitates the Nokogiri library in generating a lexical scanner code that is used to parse CSS queries. In any case, the app sec community would be reassured to know that  a patch which addresses this key vulnerability has been released as Rexical v1.0.7. And on an equally heartening note, Nokogiri has also performed an upgrade (i.e. Nokogiri v.1.10.4) to implement the latest patch for the Rexical gem in their library.

Now that you are all caught up on these CVEs, we hope this little piece of enlightenment would have made you more aware of the rampantness of open source vulnerabilities!

Knowing is half the battle. The other half is doing. Let Meterian help your dev team stay in the know and on top of the latest updates to secure your apps continuously.  Sign up here to download the Meterian client today.  You’ll get an instant analysis of your first project for free.  See the risks immediately and know which components to remove or upgrade to secure your app.

Vulnerability Focus: Command Injection

Vulnerability Focus: Remote Code Execution (RCE) Attacks

viviandufourLeave a comment

This week’s edition is all about remote code execution attacks. We have a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the ever popular http-file-server which could lead to the execution of arbitrary JavaScript code in an unsuspecting victim’s browser.  On the other hand, we have a RubyGem exposure whose sheer magnitude led to the discovery of a potential cryptocurrency mining scheme. 

  • CVE-2019-15224 A code-execution backdoor in rest-client version 1.6.13 could lead to privilege escalation attacks
  • CVE-2019-5458 A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in all versions of http-file-server, a third-party Node.JS module

CVE-2019-15224

Vulnerability Score: TBD  (CVSS v3.0)

Platform: Ruby

Component: rest-client

Affected versions: v1.6.10 through v1.6.13

A malicious code-execution backdoor has just been located in version 1.6.13 of rest-client – a popular HTTP and REST (REpresentational State Transfer) client software package for Ruby. In essence, REST is an architectural style that standardizes modes of communication among different computer systems on the web. To delve a bit deeper, RESTful systems are stateless, and they separate concerns from client-side and server-side – the Ruby rest-client oversees requests sent to the server in order to retrieve or modify data stored on the server. 

In this compromised  version, the injected code within the gem would fetch malicious code from pastebin.com and send it to the attacker’s server to retrieve sensitive information from the client’s host machine. Kudos to Jussi Kuljonen for catching this vulnerability and promptly notifying the GitHub community on 19 August 2019.  Aside from that, he also pointed out that rest-client version 1.6.10 leading up to version 1.6.13, which have since been yanked, were also compromised. 

This is an image of how a hacker exploits the Ruby gem rest-client library with remote code execution, in a web application.
Remote Code Execution Exploit of Ruby Gem rest-client library

This is dangerous territory for users of said gem, as third-party attackers could exploit this vulnerability to perform remote code execution for personal gains. This could be in the form of privilege escalation attacks, whereby attackers could execute malicious code on the host’s server to access credentials of services used by a hosting site (i.e. database, payment service provider).

It should be noted this 1.6.13  version is considerably dated, as the latest rest-client version is 2.1.0.rc1. This raised suspicions among the DevOps community that this incident might have been a targeted attack.

Image credit: Excerpt taken from DevOps community comment on Github [CVE-2019-15224] Version 1.6.13 published with malicious backdoor.

This discovery then instigated a wider instigation which revealed that the same code was found in almost a dozen other gems: bitcoin_vanity, blockchain_wallet, omniauth_amazon, cron_parser, coin_base,  lita_coin, awesome-bot, doge-coin, and capistrano-colors. It has been established that the attacker(s) wanted to exploit the infected hosts to covertly mine cryptocurrency. 

In terms of scope of impact, the rest-client  version 1.6.13, which sparked the uncovering of this malicious plot, has had 1061 downloads. On the other hand, the total download count for all the compromised gems is a little over 3500. Regardless, the chaos ceases here as all affected gems have been removed by the RubyGems team – the compromised accounts of developers have also been locked for good measure.

As for the availability of a fix, version 1.6.14 (identical to the unaffected  v1.6.9) has been released to replace all compromised versions in the legacy 1.6.x series. To check your apps’ depencies, versions <= 1.6.9 or >= 1.6.14 are unaffected. If your version of the rest-client gems falls in between, you are advised to download the patch immediately. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

CVE-2019-5457, CVE-2019-5458

Vulnerability Score: Medium — 5.4  (CVSS v3.0)

Platform: Node.JS 

Components: http-file-server, min-http-server

Affected versions: All versions

Look alive, all you http-file-server and min-http-server users! A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability has been found in these third-party Node.JS modules. The HTTP File Server (HFS) is a web server used for the publishing and sharing of files. 

By definition, XSS is a type of cybersecurity vulnerability that enables attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by unsuspecting users. Implications of XSS vary in range (i.e. petty nuisance to  critical security risk), depending on the nature of the data stored on the vulnerable site’s server and the strength of the security mitigation measures adopted by the site’s network.

In this instance, this cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability is the attack vector – it enables hackers with access to the server-file system to inject malicious Javascript-based scripts in the file name, so that these scripts will be automatically executed on the victim’s browser when files are listed. In technical jargon, this is known as improper neutralization of input during web page generation. The occurrence of this XSS vulnerability is due to the unsanitized  and invalid HTML input in the module filenames – it allows any injected and stored scripts within the server to be executed in the client’s browser.

The http-file-server has unfortunately been declared dead, and no known fixes have been made available to HFS users. The good news is that the project has been yanked to prevent further exploits such as hijacking of user sessions or phishing to steal user credentials. Credits to An Nguyen for disclosing these easily exploitable vulnerabilities to the DevSecOps community!

To end things, we will leave you with some helpful tips on cross-site scripting prevention methods. One should check that user input has been sanitized and that potentially executable characters have been properly encoded to avoid having them interpreted as executable code. It is also worth validating input as it stops users from adding special characters into webpage data entry fields by refusing the request – this mitigates the impact should an attacker discover such an XSS vulnerability.  We suggest you bookmark this useful resource: Cross Site Scripting Prevention Cheat Sheet, too!  

Found this useful? Sign up here to download the Meterian client today. You’ll get an instant analysis of your first project for free.  See the risks immediately and know which components to remove or upgrade to secure your app.

Vulnerability Focus: Remote Code Execution (RCE) Attacks

Meterian “Life and Hacks of Open Source” Prize Draw

viviandufourLeave a comment

Following yesterday’s event at IDEALondon over in Shoreditch, London, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our new website scanner and prize draw.

Draw Period: July 10 – July 17, 2019

Prize: A bundle consisting of £100 Amazon.co.uk eGift Voucher, a 1-hour in-person consultation with Meterian, 10% lifetime discount to Meterian cloud-based annual subscription product from Startup, Bootstrap, and Enterprise plans.

Eligibility Criteria: Prize Draw entrants must register their email and contact information on Meterian’s website at https://www.meterian.io/webscanner.html during the Draw Period. Only 1 winner will be selected.

Read on for detailed terms.  Happy scanning!

Meterian “Life and Hacks of Open Source” Prize Draw Terms

  1. We shall specify the opening and closing dates of each prize draw (“Draw Period”).  
  2. There will be one winner per Draw Period who will win a prize for registering on Meterian’s website at https://www.meterian.io/webscanner.html during the Draw Period. We reserve the right to reclaim any prize where a participant makes false claims to identity and affiliation with the company they register on the website.
  3. The prize is a bundle consisting of £100 Amazon.co.uk eGift Voucher, a 1-hour in-person consultation with Meterian, 10% lifetime discount to Meterian’s cloud-based annual subscription product from Startup, Bootstrap, and Enterprise plans.
  4. Prizes will be awarded to entries picked at random by computer or an independent person within 7 working days after the closing date. Each winner will be contacted by telephone, post or email within 21 days of the Prize Draw closing, and be sent their prize by post no later than 90 days after the Prize Draw Date. If a winner for a Prize Draw cannot be contacted using reasonable efforts within 10 days from the Prize Draw date for that Draw Period, then an alternative winner will be drawn from the entries for that Draw Period.
  5. There is no cash alternative to the prize. We reserve the right to award an alternative prize of equal or greater value, should the advertised prize or any part of it become unavailable. The result of the Prize Draw is final. No correspondence will be entered into. The name and county of each winner will be available on request by sending a stamp addressed envelope to Customer Service, Meterian Ltd., 196 Freston Road, London W10 6TT, United Kingdom and may be posted online.
  6. Each winner may be required to participate in reasonable press or PR activity related to the prize draw as notified by Meterian Ltd.  
  7. We reserve the right to cancel or amend the prize draw or these rules at any time without prior notice, with no liability to any entrants.
  8. We can accept no responsibility for entries which fail to be properly submitted for any technical reason whatsoever, and we will reject entries submitted by any other means.
  9. Additional terms:
    1. Each winner must be a UK resident.
    2. The prizes are as stated, not redeemable for cash or other products and are not transferable. Each prize can only be claimed by the winner.
    3. If the prize package is not claimed by 90 days after the prize draw, the prize will be forfeited.
    4. We endeavour to run the competition as stipulated, including the closing date of 11:59pm on last date of Draw Period.
    5. The winners will be communicated via the email used to submit their entry shortly after the completion closing date.
    6. Acceptance of these terms and conditions is a condition of entry and the entry instructions form part of these terms and conditions. By entering into the competition, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
    7. The Promoter (Meterian) reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to exclude you from the competition if you do not comply with these terms and conditions.
    8. Internet or Wi-Fi access is required.
    9. If unable to physically attend the consultation, then the consultation will be conducted via Skype and will only be 1 hour long.
    10. No purchase necessary.
    11. The Promoter’s decision will be final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
    12. The Promoter reserves the right to change, alter or withdraw the competition at any time.
    13. This Competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or any UK registered charity.
  10. If any of these terms and conditions are found to be void or unenforceable, that term shall be deemed to be deleted and the remaining terms and conditions shall continue in full force and effect.
  11. These terms and conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising is subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Meterian “Life and Hacks of Open Source” Prize Draw