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HIRT-PUB14003: Apache Commons FileUpload vulnerable to denial-of-service (DoS)

(JVN#14876762, JVNDB-2014-000017, CVE-2014-0050)

Last Updated: February 19, 2014

HIRT reports the vulnerabilities to JVN in line with the framework of vulnerability handling - Information Security Early Warning Partnership.

1. Overview

Apache Commons FileUpload contains a denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability.

CVSS Severity

 Base Metrics: 5.0
  Access Vector: Network
  Access Complexity: Low
  Authentication: None
  Confidentiality Impact: None
  Integrity Impact: None
  Availability Impact: Partial

 Temporal Metrics 3.9 (February 12, 2014)
  Exploitablity: Proof of concept code
  Remediation Level: Official fix
  Report Confidence: Confirmed

2. Affected Systems

+ Apache Commons FileUpload 1.0 to 1.3
+ Apache Tomcat 8.0.0-RC1 to 8.0.1
+ Apache Tomcat 7.0.0 to 7.0.50
+ Products that use Apache Commons FileUpload

Apache Tomcat 7 and Apache Tomcat 8 use a packaged renamed copy of Apache Commons FileUpload to implement the requirement of the Servlet 3.0 and later specifications to support the processing of mime-multipart requests. Tomcat 7 and 8 are therefore affected by this issue. While Tomcat 6 uses Commons FileUpload as part of the Manager application, access to that functionality is limited to authenticated administrators.

3. Impact

Processing a malformed HTTP request may cause the condition that the target system does not respond.

5. Vulnerability report timeline

This issue was reported responsibly to the Apache Software Foundation via JPCERT/CC (Information Security Early Warning Partnership) but an error in addressing an e-mail led to the unintended early disclosure of this issue [*1]. Apache Software Foundation decided to publish the Security advisory as soon as possible [*2]. Also JPCERT/CC (coordination body), IPA (receipt body) and HIRT (discoverer) coordinated the public release (February 10, 2014) at JVN.

[2013-11-21] Confirmation of this vulnerability in Apache Commons FileUpload.
[2013-12-02] Vulnerability reported JVN in line with the Information Security Early Warning Partnership (Figure 1).
[2013-12-04] Receiving questions of "reproduction of the vulnerable condition" and "technical detail" from IPA (receipt body).
[2013-12-06] Sending the answer of "reproduction of the vulnerable condition" to IPA (receipt body).
[2013-12-09] Sending the answer of "technical detail" to IPA (receipt body).
[2013-12-25] Acceptance of this vulnerability reporting by IPA (receipt body).
[2014-01-09] Receiving an initial date in reckoning of this vulnerability reporting from IPA (receipt body).
[2014-02-06 01:45+00:00] cc'd vulnerability related information to org.apache.commons.dev [*1].
[2014-02-06 11:37+00:00] Security advisory public by Apache Software Foundation [*2].
[2014-02-07] Coordination of public release at JVN with JPCERT/CC (coordination body) and IPA (receipt body).
[2014-02-10] Public release at JVN [*3].

*1)
Subject: Re: ***UNCHECKED*** Re: VN: JVN#14876762 / TN: JPCERT#90213603
http://markmail.org/message/kpfl7ax4el2owb3o
http://markmail.org/message/sbojy5cn74f2ty32
*2)
CVE-2014-0050 Apache Commons FileUpload and Apache Tomcat DoS
http://mail-archives.us.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-announce/201402.mbox/%3C52F373FC.9030907@apache.org%3E
*3)
JVN#14876762: Apache Commons FileUpload vulnerable to denial-of-service (DoS)
http://jvn.jp/en/jp/JVN14876762/

Figure 1. Framework overview of the Information Security Early Warning Partnership.
Figure 1. Framework overview of the Information Security Early Warning Partnership.

6. References

6.1 Vulnerability Enumeration

6.2 Other

7. Update history

February 19, 2014
  • This webpage was newly created and published.

Masato Terada (HIRT), Akiko Numata (HIRT) and Naoko Ohnishi (HIRT)