CERT-SEI

Overview

The Microsoft Windows Netlogon Remote Protocol (MS-NRPC) reuses a known, static, zero-value initialization vector (IV) in AES-CFB8 mode. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to impersonate a domain-joined computer, including a domain controller, and potentially obtain domain administrator privileges.

Description

The Microsoft Windows Netlogon Remote Protocol (MS-NRPC) is a core authentication component of Active Directory that provides authentication for user and computer accounts. MS-NRPC uses an initialization vector (IV) of 0 (zero) in AES-CFB8 mode when authenticating computer accounts.

Zerologon: Unauthenticated domain controller compromise by subverting Netlogon cryptography (CVE-2020-1472) describes how this cryptographic failure allows a trivial statistical attack on the MS-NRPC authentication handshake:

The ComputeNetlogonCredential function, however, defines that this IV is fixed and should always consist of 16 zero bytes. This violates the requirements for using AES-CFB8 securely: its security properties only hold when IVs are random.

...

When encrypting a message consisting only of zeroes, with an all-zero IV, there is a 1 in 256 chance that the output will only contain zeroes as well.

By choosing a client challenge and ClientCredential of all zeros, an attacker has a 1 in 256 chance of successfully authenticating as any domain-joined computer. By impersonating a domain controller, an attacker can take additional steps to change a computer's Active Directory password (Exploit step 4: changing a computer’s AD password) and potentially gain domain administrator privileges (Exploit step 5: from password change to domain admin).

Impact

An unauthenticated attacker with network access to a domain controller can impersonate any domain-joined computer, including a domain controller. Among other actions, the attacker can set an empty password for the domain controller's Active Directory computer account, causing a denial of service, and potentially allowing the attacker to gain domain administrator privileges.

The compromise of Active Directory infrastructure is likely a significant and costly impact.

Solution Apply an update

On August 11, 2020, Microsoft issued an advisory that provides updates for this vulnerability.

Enable secure RPC enforcement mode

The August 2020 updates for CVE-2020-1472 include changes to domain controllers that can optionally be enabled to require secure RPC for Netlogon secure channel connections. The changes to require secure RPC must be made to receive the most complete protection from this vulnerability. For systems that have the August 2020 update for CVE-2020-1472, enabling secure RPC enforcement mode will change domain controller behavior to require Netlogon secure channel connections using secure MS-NRPC. This change to enable enforcement mode will be deployed automatically on or after February 9, 2021.

Acknowledgements

Microsoft acknowledges Tom Tervoort of Secura for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Eric Hatleback, Art Manion, and Will Dormann.

Overview

Multiple vulnerabilities exist in various Video Over IP (Internet Protocol) encoder devices, also known as IPTV/H.264/H.265 video encoders. These vulnerabilities allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code and perform other unauthorized actions on a vulnerable system.

Description

IPTV/H.264/H.265 video encoder devices provide video streaming capability over IP networks. The underlying software in these devices seem to share common components that have multiple weaknesses in their design and default configuration.

The vulnerabilities occur primarily in the network services such as web and telnet interfaces. These vulnerabilities stem from software bugs, such as insufficient validation of user input and the use of insecure credentials through hard-coded passwords. https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/. The vulnerable components may also be present in other Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

These devices are manufactured using components acquired from a complex supply chain and are often sold through common outlets such as retail stores and e-commerce websites. This makes it difficult to identify impacted devices and notify the appropriate stakeholders, thus illustrating the dire need for Software Bill of Materials SBOM in this growing and complex digital market.

Further details of these vulnerabilities can be found in this blog post by Alexei Kojenov.

Impact

The impact of these vulnerabilities are summarized in the following list:

1. Full administrative access via backdoor password (CVE-2020-24215)
2. Administrative root access via backdoor password (CVE-2020-24218)
3. Arbitrary file read via path traversal (CVE-2020-24219)
4. Unauthenticated file upload (CVE-2020-24217)
5. Arbitrary code execution by uploading malicious firmware (CVE-2020-24217)
6. Arbitrary code execution via command injection (CVE-2020-24217)
7. Denial of service via buffer overflow (CVE-2020-24214)
8. Unauthorized video stream access via RTSP (CVE-2020-24216)

Solution Apply Updates

Contact your vendor. See also the Vendor Information section below.

Restrict network access

Restrict network access of these devices to a well protect local area network (LAN) or through a firewall. Allowing direct Internet access to these devices increases the risk of compromise and potential abuse from an unauthorized remote attacker.

Acknowledgements

Alexei Kojenov https://kojenov.com/ researched and reported these vulnerabilities.

This document was written by Vijay Sarvepalli.

Overview

Devices supporting both Bluetooth BR/EDR and LE using Cross-Transport Key Derivation (CTKD) for pairing are vulnerable to key overwrite, which enables an attacker to to gain additional access to profiles or services that are not restricted by reducing the encryption key strength or overwriting an authenticated key with an unauthenticated key. This vulnerability is being referred to as BLURtooth.

Description

As detailed in both the Bluetooth Core Specification versions 4.2 and 5.0, Bluetooth CTKD can be used for pairing by devices that support both Low Energy (BLE) and Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) transport methods, which are known as "dual-mode" devices. CTKD pairing allows the devices to pair once using either transport method while generating both the BR/EDR and LE Long Term Keys (LTK) without needing to pair a second time. Dual-mode devices using CTKD to generate a LTK or Link Key (LK) are able to overwrite the original LTK or LK in cases where that transport was enforcing a higher level of security.

Impact

Several potential attacks could be performed by exploiting CVE-2020-15802, including a Man in the Middle (MITM) attack. The vulnerability is being referred to as BLURtooth and the group of attacks is being referred to as the BLUR attacks. Vulnerable devices must permit a pairing or bonding to proceed transparently with no authentication, or a weak key strength, on at least one of the BR/EDR or LE transports in order to be susceptible to attack. For example, it may be possible to pair with certain devices using JustWorks pairing over BR/EDR or LE and overwriting an existing LTK or LK on the other transport. When this results in the reduction of encryption key strength or the overwrite of an authenticated key with an unauthenticated key, an attacker could gain additional access to profiles or services that are not otherwise restricted.

Solution

The Bluetooth SIG has released recommendations for mitigating this issue that include additional conformance tests to ensure that the overwrite of an authenticated key or a key of a given length with an unauthenticated key or a key of reduced length is not permitted in devices supporting Bluetooth Core Specification version 5.1 or greater. They also recommend that potentially vulnerable implementations introduce the restrictions on CTKD mandated in Bluetooth Core Specification versions 5.1 and later. Implementations should disallow overwrite of the LTK or LK for one transport with the LTK or LK derived from the other when this overwrite would result in either a reduction of the key strength of the original bonding or a reduction in the MITM protection of the original bonding (from authenticated to unauthenticated). This may require that the host track the negotiated length and authentication status of the keys in the Bluetooth security database.

The Bluetooth SIG further recommends that devices restrict when they are pairable on either transport to times when user interaction places the device into a pairable mode or when the device has no bonds or existing connections to a paired device. In all cases, it is recommended that devices restrict the duration of pairing mode and overwrite an existing bonding only when devices are explicitly in pairing mode.k

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the reporter who wishes to remain anonymous.

This document was written by Madison Oliver.

Overview

Diebold Nixdorf 2100xe USB automated teller machines (ATMs) are vulnerable to physical attacks on the communication channel between the cash and check deposit module (CCDM) and the host computer. An attacker with physical access to internal ATM components may be able to exploit this vulnerability to commit deposit forgery.

Description

Diebold Nixdorf ProCash 2100xe USB ATMs running Wincor Probase version 1.1.30 do not encrypt, authenticate, or verify the integrity of messages between the CCDM and the host computer. An attacker with physical access to internal ATM components can intercept and modify messages, such as the amount and value of currency being deposited, and send modified messages to the host computer.

A similar vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-10124 is decribed in VU#815655. CVE-2020-10124 affects the bunch note acceptor (BNA) in ATMs supplied by a different vendor. The BNA is functionally similar to the CCDM.

Impact

By modifying deposit transaction messages, an attacker may be able to commit deposit forgery. Such an attack requires two separate transactions. The attacker must first deposit actual currency and modify messages from the CCDM to the host computer to indicate a greater amount or value than was actually deposited. Then the attacker must make a withdrawal for an artificially increased amount or value of currency. This second transaction may need to occur at an ATM operated by a different financial institution (i.e., a not-on-us or OFF-US transaction).

Solution Obtain advice from vendor

Diebold Nixdorf released a document titled "Potential CCDM Deposit Forgery" on February 27, 2020 that details the recommended procedures for addressing this vulnerability. Contact the vendor to obtain the document.

Apply an update

The vendor has released an update to secure communications between the CCDM and the host computer. Contact the vendor regarding this software update.

Consider additional countermeasures

In addition to applying a software update, the vendor recommends limiting physical access to the ATM (including internal components), adjusting deposit transaction business logic, and implementing fraud monitoring. For details about these additional recommended countermeasures, contact the vendor.

Acknowledgements

This vulnerability was researched and reported by Maxim Kozorez. At the time of the initial report, Maxim Kozorez was associated with Embedi.

Coordinating with Embedi was supported by U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) License No. CYBER2-2019-359003-1, Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations License issued April 2, 2019 to Licensees: CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute (CERT), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.

This document was written by Eric Hatleback and Laurie Tyzenhaus.

Overview

NCR SelfServ automated teller machines (ATMs) running APTRA XFS 04.02.01 and 05.01.00 are vulnerable to physical attacks on the communications bus between the host computer and the bunch note accepter (BNA).

Description

NCR ATM SelfServ devices running APTRA XFS 04.02.01 and 05.01.00 contain vulnerabilities that can be exploited by an attacker with physical access to the internal components of the ATM, specifically the BNA and the host computer.

CVE-2020-10124

NCR SelfServ ATMs running APTRA XFS 05.01.00 do not encrypt, authenticate, or verify the integrity of messages between the BNA and the host computer. A similar vulnerability is identified as CVE-2020-9062 in VU#221785. CVE-2020-9062 involves the cash and check deposit module (CCDM) in ATMs from a different vendor. The CCDM is functionally similar to the BNA.

CVE-2020-10125

NCR SelfServ ATMs running APTRA XFS 04.02.01 and 05.01.00 implement 512-bit RSA certificates to validate BNA software updates. Keys of this strengh can be broken by an attacker in a sufficiently short period of time, thereby enabling the attacker to sign arbitrary files and CAB archives used to update BNA software, as well as bypass application whitelisting, resulting in the ability to execute arbitrary code. (CWE-326)

CVE-2020-10126

NCR SelfServ ATMs running APTRA XFS 05.01.00 do not properly validate softare updates for the BNA. An attacker with physical access to internal ATM components can restart the host computer. During boot, the update process looks for CAB archives on removable media and executes a specific file without first validating the signature of the CAB archive. This allows an attacker to execute abitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. (CWE-305)

Impact

An attacker with physical access to the internal components of the ATM, including the BNA, can execute arbitrary code. An attacker may also be able to commit deposit forgery, with or without also executing arbitrary code.

A deposit forgery attack requires two separate transactions. The attacker must first deposit actual currency and manipulate the message from the BNA to the host computer to indicate a greater amount or value than was actually deposited. Then the attacker must make a withdrawal for an artificially increased amount or value of currency. This second transaction may need to occur at an ATM operated by a different financial institution (i.e., a not-on-us or OFF-US transaction).

Solution Apply an update

Update software to APTRA XFS 06.08. The update increases the strength of the RSA keys to limit the window of opportunity for an attacker to crack and misuse the keys (CVE-2020-10125). The update also provides protection against the bypass of the digital signature check (CVE-2020-10126).

Acknowledgements

These vulnerabilities were researched and reported by Roman Bazhin and Dmitry Turchenkov. At the time of the initial report, Roman Bazhin and Dmitry Turchenkov were associated with Embedi.

Coordinating with Embedi was supported by U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) License No. CYBER2-2019-359003-1, Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations License issued April 2, 2019 to Licensees: CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute (CERT), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.

This document was written by Eric Hatleback and Laurie Tyzenhaus.

Overview

NCR SelfServ automated teller machines (ATMs) running APTRA XFS 05.01.00 or older are vulnerable to physical attacks on the communications bus between the currency dispenser component and the host computer.

Description

NCR SelfServ ATMs running APTRA XFS 05.01.00 or older contain vulnerabilities that can be exploited by an attacker with physical access to the internal components of the ATM.

CVE-2020-9063

USB HID communications between the currency dispenser and the host computer are not authenticated or integrity protected and can be manipulated to cause a buffer overflow on the host. An attacker with physical access to internal ATM components can inject a malicious payload and execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on the host computer.

CVE-2020-10123

The currency dispenser component does not adequately authenticate session key generation requests from the host computer. An attacker with physical access to internal ATM components can generate a new session key that the attacker knows. This allows the attacker to issue valid commands to dispense currency. (CWE-305)

Impact

An attacker with physical access to the internal components of the ATM can execute arbitrary code on the host computer or withdraw currency.

Solution

Software, hardware, firmware, and configuration updates may be necessary, depending upon the current state of a specific vulnerable ATM.

Update software and hardware

APTRA XFS 05.01 stopped receiving support in 2015. Any customers still using unsupported software and hardware should upgrade at the earliest possible opportunity.

Update firmware

APTRA XFS Dispenser Security Update 01.00.00 contains the following firmware updates:

1. USBCurrencyDispenser 04.01.01, firmware 0x0167 (for S1 dispensers)
2. USBMediaDispenser 03.04.00, firmware 0x0118 (for S2 dispensers)

Update configuration

In addition to Dispenser Security Update 01.00.00, the Dispenser Protection Level and Dispenser Authentication Sequence parameters should be properly configured. The recommended configurations are:

1. Dispenser Protection Level: Level 3 (Physical Protection) for S1 and S2 dispensers
2. Dispenser Authentication Sequence: Sequence 2 or higher (for S1 dispensers), or Sequence 1 or higher (for S2 dispensers)

See the NCR Secure Whitepaper for further information.

When implemented together, these mitigations address both CVE-2020-9063 and CVE-2020-10123.

Acknowledgements

These vulnerabilities were researched and reported by Maxim Kozorez. At the time of the initial report, Maxim Kozorez was associated with Embedi.

Coordinating with Embedi was supported by U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) License No. CYBER2-2019-359003-1, Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations License issued April 2, 2019 to Licensees: CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute (CERT), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.

This document was written by Eric Hatleback and Laurie Tyzenhaus.

Overview

The GRUB2 boot loader is vulnerable to buffer overflow, which results in arbitrary code execution during the boot process, even when Secure Boot is enabled.

Description

GRUB2 is a multiboot boot loader that replaced GRUB Legacy in 2012. A boot loader is the first program that runs upon boot and loads the operating system. Many vendors also use a shim, a signed software package that contains the vendor’s certificate and code that verifies and runs the boot loader. This means that firmware Certificate Authority providers can just sign the shim as opposed to all of the other supported programs.

GRUB2 is vulnerable to a buffer overflow when parsing content from the GRUB2 configuration file (grub.cfg). This configuration file is an external file commonly located in the EFI System Partition and can therefore be modified by an attacker with administrator privileges without altering the integrity of the signed vendor shim and GRUB2 boot loader executables. This could allow an authenticated, local attacker to modify the contents of the GRUB2 configuration file to ensure that the attacker's chosen code is run before the operating system is loaded. This could allow the attacker to gain persistence on the device, even with Secure Boot enabled. All versions of GRUB2 that load commands from an external grub.cfg configuration file are vulnerable.

Impact

An authenticated, local attacker could modify the contents of the GRUB2 configuration file to execute arbitrary code that bypasses signature verification. This could allow the attacker to gain persistence on the device, even with Secure Boot enabled. Because the attacker's code runs before the operating system, the attacker could control how the operating system is loaded, directly patch the operating system, or even direct the bootloader to alternate OS images. All versions of GRUB2 that load commands from an external grub.cfg configuration file are vulnerable.

Solution

Apply an update

Update GRUB2 to the latest version to address this vulnerability. Linux distributions and other vendors using GRUB2 will need to update their installers, boot loaders, and shims. New shims will need to be signed by the Microsoft 3rd Party UEFI Certificate Authority. Administrators of affected devices will need to update installed versions of operating systems as well as installer images, including disaster recovery media. Until all affected versions are added to the dbx revocation list, an attacker would be able to use a vulnerable version of shim and GRUB2. Eventually the UEFI revocation list (dbx) needs to be updated in the firmware of each affected system to prevent running this vulnerable code during boot.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mickey Shkatov and Jesse Michael from Eclypsium for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Madison Oliver.

Overview

iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS contain a double-free vulnerability in the GNU kernel's lio_listio() function, which can allow a malicious application to achieve unsandboxed, kernel-level code execution.

Description

iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS contain an a double-free vulnerability in the GNU kernel's lio_listio() function. This can lead to triggering a use-after-free condition. This vulnerability can allow code execution with kernel privileges. This vulnerability is being used by the public unc0ver 5.0 jailbreak utility, which claims to support all devices from iOS 11 through 13.5, excluding versions 12.3-12.3.2 and 12.4.2-12.4.5. It is also reported that this jailbreak works on modern iOS devices that use a CPU that supports Pointer Authentication Code (PAC), which indicates that PAC does not prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.

It is reported that this vulnerability is a regression of the vulnerability known as LightSpeed.

Impact

By convincing a user to run a malicious application on a device running iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, or macOS, an attacker may be able to achieve arbitrary code execution in the kernel that is not restricted by sandboxes or other OS protections.

Solution Apply updates

This issue is addressed in the following OS updates from Apple:
macOS Catalina 10.15.5 Supplemental Update, Security Update 2020-003 High Sierra
tvOS 13.4.6
watchOS 6.2.6
iOS 13.5.1 and iPadOS 13.5.1

Acknowledgements

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Overview

F5 BIG-IP provides a Traffic Management User Interface (TMUI), also referred to as the Configuration utility, that has multiple vulnerabilities including a remotely exploitable command injection vulnerability that can be used to execute arbitrary commands and subsequently take control of a vulnerable system.

Description

F5 BIG-IP devices provide load-balancing capability to application services such as HTTP and DNS. The F5 BIG-IP TMUI management web interface improperly neutralizes untrusted user input and can be abused by unauthenticated remote attackers to perform malicious activities such as cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and command injection CWE-74. F5 has also announced that BIG-IP devices do not properly enforce access controls to sensitive configuration files that be read and overwritten by an authenticated user via Secure Copy (SCP). The vulnerability identified by CVE-2020-0592 can be abused to achieve arbitrary code execution on the target device with root privileges.

Underlying causes and factors in these vulnerabilities include:

• Certain components of the TMUI, such as tmshCmd.jsp, operate with high privileges
• The TMUI fails to enforce proper authentication and authorization, see OWASP Recommendations
• The TMUI web interface does not normalize user's input to prevent both XSS and CSRF, allowing a "Deadly Combinations of XSS and CSRF"
• Lack of role-based access checks allows for for unexpected file access, see Role-Based Access Control Models

F5 recommends that the TMUI web interface should be accessible only from a secure or an out-of-band network and not directly from the Internet (K13092). However, many installations, as observed by Bad Packets, do not seem to follow this recommendation.

Impact

An unauthenticated attacker with network access to the TMUI may be able to execute arbitrary system commands, create or delete files, disable services, and subsequently execute arbitrary code with high privileges such as root. An authenticated user is also be able to perform unexpected activities such as changing configuration files on a vulnerable device.

Solution Apply updates

F5 has provided updated software for the several impacted versions of BIG-IP devices. Note that BIG-IP appliances as well as virtual instances are also vulnerable as identified by F5 advisories. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest secure and stable software provided by F5. These updates are essential to your device's security, even if the TMUI is not accessible over the Internet. The upgrade reduces the risk to your device being compromised using CSRF or XSS attacks.

Workarounds

In many cases, an attack against BIG-IP's recent vulnerabilities require access to TMUI. Blocking or disabling access to TMUI from untrusted networks is highly recommended. F5 has also provided multiple temporary workaround options in their advisory.

Acknowledgements

Several of these vulnerabilities were reported by Mikhail Klyuchnikov of Positive Technologies, who worked with F5 on a coordinated disclosure.

This document was written by Vijay Sarvepalli.

Overview

Multiple Netgear devices contain a stack buffer overflow in the httpd web server's handling of upgrade_check.cgi, which may allow for unauthenticated remote code execution with root privileges.

Description

Many Netgear devices contain an embedded web server, which is provided by the httpd process, to provide administrative capabilities. On multiple Netgear devices, this code fails to properly validate the header size provided to the upgrade_check.cgi handler. Despite copying the header to a fixed-size buffer on the stack, the vulnerable code copies an attacker-provided count of bytes from attacker-provided data. This allows for remote code execution by way of stack buffer overflow. This vulnerability is exacerbated by a number of issues:

1. The httpd process runs with root privileges.
2. Stack cookies, which can help prevent exploitation of stack buffer overflows, are not universally used in Netgear devices.
3. Authentication is not required to reach the vulnerable code.
4. The vulnerability occurs before Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) token checking occurs.
5. Target device fingerprinting can occur by visiting the /currentsetting.htm page on an affected device.

Exploit code that targets 79 different Netgear devices is publicly available.

Impact

By convincing a user to visit a malicious or compromised website, a remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable device with root privileges.

Solution Apply an update

Netgear has provided updates for several vulnerable devices. Note that Netgear does not indicate when devices have reached an end of life (EOL) state. This may be difficult to determine if a vulnerable device may receive an update in the future.

The CERT/CC has made a spreadsheet to more clearly indicate which devices have updates, and which devices may either be receiving an update in the future, or may possibly be unsupported.

As outlined in the blog post It's Time to Retire Your Unsupported Things, you should factor the vendor's support life span into purchasing decisions. Vendors that indicate how long products will be supported should be preferred over those that do not clearly indicate how long a device will be supported. Similarly, vendors that clearly indicate when a product has reached EOL state should be preferred over vendors that do not.

Acknowledgements

This vulnerability was publicly disclosed by ZDI, who in turn credit d4rkn3ss from VNPT ISC. Additional analysis was provided by GRIMM.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Overview

Treck IP stack implementations for embedded systems are affected by multiple vulnerabilities. This set of vulnerabilities was researched and reported by JSOF, who calls them Ripple20.

Description

Treck IP network stack software is designed for and used in a variety of embedded systems. The software can be licensed and integrated in various ways, including compiled from source, licensed for modification and reuse and finally as a dynamic or static linked library. Treck IP software contains multiple vulnerabilities, most of which are caused by memory management bugs. For more details on the vulnerabilities introduced by these bugs, see Treck's Vulnerability Response Information and JSOF's Ripple20 advisory.

Historically-related KASAGO TCP/IP middleware from Zuken Elmic (formerly Elmic Systems) is also affected by some of these vulnerabilities.

These vulnerabilities likely affect industrial control systems and medical devices. Please see ICS-CERT Advisory ICSA-20-168-01 for more information.

Impact

The impact of these vulnerabilities will vary due to the combination of build and runtime options used while developing different embedded systems. This diversity of implementations and the lack of supply chain visibility has exasperated the problem of accurately assessing the impact of these vulnerabilities. In summary, a remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to use specially-crafted network packets to cause a denial of service, disclose information, or execute arbitrary code.

Solution Apply updates

Update to the latest stable version of Treck IP stack software (6.0.1.67 or later). Please contact Treck at security@treck.com. Downstream users of embedded systems that incorporate Treck IP stacks should contact their embbeded system vendor.

Block anomalous IP traffic

Consider blocking network attacks via deep packet inspection. In some cases, modern switches, routers, and firewalls will drop malformed packets with no additional configuration. It is recommended that such security features are not disabled. Below is a list of possible mitigations that can be applied as appropriate to your network environment.

• Normalize or reject IP fragmented packets (IP Fragments) if not supported in your environment
• Disable or block IP tunneling, both IPv6-in-IPv4 or IP-in-IP tunneling if not required
• Block IP source routing and any IPv6 deprecated features like routing headers (see also VU#267289)
• Enforce TCP inspection and reject malformed TCP packets
• Block unused ICMP control messages such MTU Update and Address Mask updates
• Normalize DNS through a secure recursive server or application layer firewall
• Ensure that you are using reliable OSI layer 2 equipment (Ethernet)
• Provide DHCP/DHCPv6 security with feature like DHCP snooping
• Disable or block IPv6 multicast if not used in switching infrastructure

Further recommendations are available here.

Detect anomalous IP traffic

Suricata IDS has built-in decoder-event rules that can be customized to detect attempts to exploit these vulnerabilities. See the rule below for an example. A larger set of selected vu-257161.rules are available from the CERT/CC Github repository.

#IP-in-IP tunnel with fragments
alert ip any any -> any any (msg:"VU#257161:CVE-2020-11896, CVE-2020-11900 Fragments inside IP-in-IP tunnel https://kb.cert.org/vuls/id/257161"; ip_proto:4; fragbits:M; sid:1367257161; rev:1;)

Acknowledgements

Moshe Kol and Shlomi Oberman of JSOF https://jsof-tech.com researched and reported these vulnerabilities. Treck worked closely with us and other stakeholders to coordinate the disclosure of these vulnerabilities.

This document was written by Vijay Sarvepalli.

Overview

pppd (Point to Point Protocol Daemon) versions 2.4.2 through 2.4.8 are vulnerable to buffer overflow due to a flaw in Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) packet processing in eap_request and eap_response subroutines.

Description

PPP is the protocol used for establishing internet links over dial-up modems, DSL connections, and many other types of point-to-point links including Virtual Private Networks (VPN) such as Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP). The pppd software can also authenticate a network connected peer and/or supply authentication information to the peer using multiple authentication protocols including EAP.

Due to a flaw in the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) packet processing in the Point-to-Point Protocol Daemon (pppd), an unauthenticated remote attacker may be able to cause a stack buffer overflow, which may allow arbitrary code execution on the target system. This vulnerability is due to an error in validating the size of the input before copying the supplied data into memory. As the validation of the data size is incorrect, arbitrary data can be copied into memory and cause memory corruption possibly leading to execution of unwanted code.

The vulnerability is in the logic of the eap parsing code, specifically in the eap_request() and eap_response() functions in eap.c that are called by a network input handler. These functions take a pointer and length as input using the the first byte as a type. If the type is EAPT_MD5CHAP(4), it looks at an embedded 1-byte length field. The logic in this code is intended to makes sure that embedded length is smaller than the whole packet length. After this verification, it tries to copy provided data (hostname) that is located after the embedded length field into a local stack buffer. This bounds check is incorrect and allows for memory copy to happen with an arbitrary length of data.

An additional logic flaw causes the eap_input() function to not check if EAP has been negotiated during the Link Control Protocol (LCP) phase. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to send an EAP packet even if ppp refused the authentication negotiation due to lack of support for EAP or due to mismatch of an agreed pre-shared passphrase in the LCP phase. The vulnerable pppd code in eap_input will still process the EAP packet and trigger the stack buffer overflow. This unverified data with an unknown size can be used to corrupt memory of the target system. The pppd often runs with high privileges (system or root) and works in conjunction with kernel drivers. This makes it possible for an attacker to potentially execute arbitrary code with system or root level privileges.

The pppd software is also adopted into lwIP (lightweight IP) project to provide pppd capabilities for small devices. The default installer and packages of lwIP are not vulnerable to this buffer overflow. However if you have used the lwIP source code and configured specifically to enable EAP at compile time, your software is likely vulnerable to the buffer overflow. The recommended update is available from Git repoistory http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/lwip.git.

This type of weakness is commonly associated in Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) with CWE-120 Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input ('Classic Buffer Overflow'). A Proof-of-Concept exploit for PPTP VPN Servers with additional tools are available in the by CERT/CC PoC repository.

Impact

By sending an unsolicited EAP packet to a vulnerable ppp client or server, an unauthenticated remote attacker could cause memory corruption in the pppd process, which may allow for arbitrary code execution.

Solution Apply updates

Update your software with the latest available patches provided by your software vendor. It is incorrect to assume that pppd is not vulnerable if EAP is not enabled or EAP has not been negotiated by a remote peer using a secret or passphrase. This is due to the fact that an authenticated attacker may still be able to send unsolicited EAP packet to trigger the buffer overflow.

If your software is packaged and created from the ppp source code, please obtain the latest software from github pppd repository.
https://github.com/paulusmack/ppp
Patch referenced :
https://github.com/paulusmack/ppp/commit/8d7970b8f3db727fe798b65f3377fe6787575426

In case of lwIP package that is compiled from source with EAP enabled at compile time, obtain the latest software from github
http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/lwip.git
Patch referenced:
http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/lwip.git/commit/?id=2ee3cbe69c6d2805e64e7cac2a1c1706e49ffd86

Note: the latest software also includes ignoring out-of-order or unsolicited EAP packets from being processed as an additional precautionary measure. It is recommended that you use the latest available software from the appropriate Git repository that includes this fix.

Proof of Concept (PoC)

A proof-of-concept for testing if a PPTP server is vulnerable to cve-2020-8597 is available in the CERT/CC PoC respository

Detection Signature (IDS)

A Snort/Surricata IDS rule to detect cve-2020-8597 buffer overflow attempts against PPTP servers is also available in the CERT/CC PoC respository.

Workaround

There is no viable work around except to patch the software with updated software made available by the software vendors.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ilja Van Sprundel from IOActive for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Vijay Sarvepalli.

Overview

Microsoft SMBv3 contains a vulnerability in the handling of compression, which may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system. This vulnerability is being referred to as "SMBGhost and CoronaBlue."

Description

Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1 (SMBv3) contains a vulnerability in the way that it handles connections that use compression. This vulnerability may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system. It has been reported that this vulnerability is "wormable."

Impact

By connecting to a vulnerable Windows machine using SMBv3, or by causing a vulnerable Windows system to initiate a client connection to a SMBv3 server, a remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a vulnerable system.

Solution

Apply an update

This issue has been addressed in the Microsoft update for CVE-2020-0796. Please also consider the following workarounds:

Disable SMBv3 compression

According to Microsoft Security Advisory ADV200005 :

You can disable compression to block unauthenticated attackers from exploiting the vulnerability against an SMBv3 Server with the PowerShell command below.

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters" DisableCompression -Type DWORD -Value 1 -Force

Notes:

1. No reboot is needed after making the change.
2. This workaround does not prevent exploitation of SMB clients.

You can disable the workaround with the PowerShell command below.

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters" DisableCompression -Type DWORD -Value 0 -Force

Block inbound and outbound SMB

Consider blocking outbound SMB connections (TCP port 445 for SMBv3) from the local network to the WAN. Also ensure that SMB connections from the internet are not allowed to connect inbound to an enterprise LAN.

Acknowledgements

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Overview

Machine learning models trained using gradient descent can be forced to make arbitrary misclassifications by an attacker that can influence the items to be classified. The impact of a misclassification varies widely depending on the ML model's purpose and of what systems it is a part.

Description

This vulnerability results from using gradient descent to determine classification of inputs via a neural network. As such, it is a vulnerability in the algorithm. In plain terms, this means that the currently-standard usage of this type of machine learning algorithm can always be fooled or manipulated if the adversary can interact with it. What kind or amount of interaction an adversary needs is not always clear, and some attacks can be successful with only minor or indirect interaction. However, in general more access or more interaction options reduce the effort required to fool the machine learning algorithm. If the adversary has information about some part of the machine learning process (training data, training results, model, or operational/testing data), then with sufficient effort the adversary can craft an input that will fool the machine learning tool to yield a result of the adversary's choosing. In instantiations of this vulnerability that we are currently aware of, "sufficient effort" ranges widely, between seconds and weeks of commodity compute time.

Within the taxonomy by Kumar et al., such misclassifications are either perturbation attacks or adversarial examples in the physical domain. There are other kinds of failures or attacks related to ML systems, and other ML systems besides those trained via gradient descent. However, this note is restricted to this specific algorithm vulnerability. Formally, the vulnerability is defined for the following case of classification.

Let \(x\) be a feature vector and \(y\) be a class label. Let \(L\) be a loss function, such as cross entropy loss. We wish to learn a parameterization vector \(\theta\) for a given class of functions \(f\) such that the expected loss is minimized. Specifically, let

\[\theta_{\star} = min_\theta \mathop{\mathbb{E}}_{x,y} L\left(f\left(\theta, x\right), y\right) \]

In the case where \(f\left(\theta,x\right)\) is a neural network, finding the global minimizer \(\theta_{\star}\) is often computationally intractable. Instead, various methods are used to find \(\hat{\theta}\) which is a "good enough" approximation. We refer to \(f\left(\hat{\theta}, .\right)\) as the fitted neural network.

If stochastic gradient descent is used to find \(\hat{\theta}\) for the broadly defined set of \(f\left(\theta,x\right)\) representing neural networks, then the fitted neural network \(f\left(\hat{\theta}, .\right)\) is vulnerable to adversarial manipulation.

Specifically, it is possible to take \(f\left(\hat{\theta}, .\right)\) and find an \(x'\) such that the difference between \(x\) and \(x'\) is smaller than some arbitrary \(\epsilon\) and yet \(f\left(\hat{\theta}, x\right)\) has the label \(y\) and \(f\left(\hat{\theta}, x'\right)\) has an arbitrarily different label \(y'\).

The uncertainty of the impact of this vulnerability is compounded because practitioners and vendors do not tend to disclose what machine learning algorithms they use. However, training neural networks by gradient descent is a common technique. See also the examples in the impact section.

Impact

An attacker can interfere with a system which uses gradient descent to change system behavior. As an algorithm vulnerability, this flaw has a wide-ranging but difficult-to-fully-describe impact. The precise impact will vary with the application of the ML system. We provide three illustrative examples; these should not be considered exhaustive.

• Automatic speech recognition can be forced to erroneously transcribe an audio clip, and the attacker can freely pick the target transcription if they can pick the audio clip.
• Facial recognition can be forced to erroneously identify faces across many photographs, in different lightings, by use of physical eyeglass frames or manipulation of the source photo. The attacker can choose an arbitrary target identity of the misclassification.
• Tesla autopilot in March 2019 had a demonstrated vulnerability (as in, on a closed road course, the attack works) where the car can be forced to change lanes arbitrarily based on stickers placed on the road surface. In January 2020, similar attacks were demonstrated using projections, such as from airborne drones, rather than stickers.

Solution

The CERT/CC is currently unaware of a specific practical solution to this problem. To defend generally, do both of:
1. Adversarial training and testing of ML models. If a model must be exposed to adversarial input, the only well-tested defense against this kind of adversarial attack is adversarial training: using adversarially perturbed examples as part of the neural network's training regimen. When used for training, these examples increase the model's robustness against adversarial attack. Such training significantly increases the difficulty of attacking the model, but it does not guarantee the model is not vulnerable. Test your machine learning algorithm against known attacks. Libraries featuring reference implementations of popular attacks and defenses include Cleverhans, Foolbox, and the Adversarial Robustness Toolkit (ART).

2. Standard defense in depth. A machine learning tool is not different from other software in this regard. Any tool should be deployed in an ecosystem that supports and defends it from adversarial manipulation. For machine learning tools specifically designed to serve a cybersecurity purpose, this is particularly important, as they are exposed to adversarial input as part of their designed tasking. See CMU/SEI-2019-TR-005 for more information on evaluating machine learning tools for cybersecurity.

Other proposed solutions, which rely on either pre-processing the data or simply obfuscating the gradient of the loss, do not work when your adversary is aware that you are attempting those mitigations.

Acknowledgements

See Papernot et al. (2016) Towards the Science of Security and Privacy in Machine Learning or Biggio and Roli (2018) Wild patterns: Ten years after the rise of adversarial machine learning for a brief history.

This document was written by Allen Householder, Jonathan M. Spring, Nathan VanHoudnos, and Oren Wright.