[Full-Disclosure] Corsaire Security Advisory: BEA Tuxedo Administration CGI multiple argument issues

From: advisories (advisories_at_corsaire.com)
Date: 10/31/03

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    -- Corsaire Security Advisory --

    Title: BEA Tuxedo Administration CGI multiple argument issues
    Date: 04.07.03
    Application: BEA Tuxedo 8.1 and prior
    Environment: Various
    Author: Martin O'Neal [martin.oneal@corsaire.com]
    Audience: General distribution
    Reference: c030704-009

    -- Scope --

    The aim of this document is to clearly define several issues in the
    argument handling functionality of the BEA Tuxedo Administration Console
    application, as supplied by BEA Systems, Inc [1].

    -- History --

    Vendor notified: 04.07.03
    Document released: 31.10.03

    -- Overview --

    The BEA Tuxedo Administration Console is a CGI application that allows
    the remote administration of Tuxedo functions. One of the start-up
    arguments it accepts is a path to an INI file containing environmental
    settings. By entering various path values into this argument it is
    possible to:

    - Confirm the existence of files outside of the web server environment.
    - Cause a Denial of Services (DoS) on the web server host.
    - Execute a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack through the application.

    -- Analysis --

    The BEA Tuxedo Administration Console is a CGI application that allows
    the remote administration of Tuxedo functions. One of the start-up
    arguments that this CGI application accepts is a path to an INI file.
    This file contains environmental variables, such as the default
    installation path of the Tuxedo application etc.

    The INIFILE argument appears not to be checked for any basic formatting
    issues such as a path outside of the web root, the use of device names,
    or for the presence of HTML constructs.

    By entering various path values into the INIFILE argument it is possible
    to use the Administration Console to confirm the existence of files
    outside of the web server environment, including those on different
    logical filesystems and even network drives. Through this approach it is
    possible to enumerate files, drives and hosts that are contactable by
    the target web server, so that they might be used with other exploits.

    By using standard device names (CON, AUX, COM1, COM2 etc) within the
    arguments, the server thread will become unresponsive until the
    service/daemon is restarted.

    By using HTML constructs, mobile code such as JAVA can be executed
    within the users context. This style of attack can be used to gain
    access to sensitive information, such as session cookies etc.

    -- Proof of concept --

    This proof of concept is known to work with a default BEA Tuxedo
    installation on a Windows platform. To make it work within different
    environments, you may need to alter the path used in the URL
    appropriately.

    To replicate the XSS issue, initiate a connection to the server that is
    hosting the Tuxedo application, then use the following URL.

       http://host/udataobj/webgui/cgi-bin/tuxadm.exe?
       INIFILE=<script>alert('XSS')</script>

    This should result in an error, accompanied by a popup script dialog
    containing the message "XSS".

    -- Recommendations --

    The application should be reviewed in line with security best practises,
    such as those recommended by the OWASP project [2], with special
    consideration paid to the validation of input and output fields.

    Access to administrative tools such as this should be restricted to
    trusted domains only and where possible, should also be protected by
    additional measures, such as strong authentication.

    BEA have released an advisory (BEA03-38.00) [3] detailing the
    availability of a patch to correct the issues. This should be reviewed
    and if found to be suitable, the patch should be applied.

    -- CVE --

    The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned
    Multiple numbers to this issue:

    CAN-2003-0621 BEA Tuxedo Administration CGI file disclosure issue
    CAN-2003-0622 BEA Tuxedo Administration CGI DoS issue
    CAN-2003-0623 BEA Tuxedo Administration CGI XSS issue

    These are candidates for inclusion in the CVE list, which standardises
    names for security problems (http://cve.mitre.org).

    -- References --

    [1] http://www.bea.com
    [2] http://www.owasp.org
    [3] http://dev2dev.bea.com/resourcelibrary/advisoriesnotifications/
        advisory03_38_00.jsp

    -- Revision --

    a. Initial release.
    b. Revised to include vendors recommendations.

    -- Distribution --

    This security advisory may be freely distributed, provided that it
    remains unaltered and in its original form.

    -- Disclaimer --

    The information contained within this advisory is supplied "as-is" with
    no warranties or guarantees of fitness of use or otherwise. Corsaire
    accepts no responsibility for any damage caused by the use or misuse of
    this information.

    Copyright 2003 Corsaire Limited. All rights reserved.

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    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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