[VulnWatch] exploiting fortigate firewall through webinterface

From: Maarten Hartsuijker (maartenh_at_phreaker.net)
Date: 10/03/03

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    To: <vulnwatch@vulnwatch.org>
    Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2003 00:02:21 +0200
    
    

    EXPLOITING FORTGATE FIREWALL THROUGH WEBINTERFACE

    ISSUE:
     Several vulnerabilities in web interface of Fortigate firewall of which the
    most serious one will allow a remote attacker to obtain a username and
    password of the Fortigate.
    RELEASE:
     pre 2.50 maintenance release 4
    FIZED IN:
     Fortinet OS 2.50 MR4, available from FTP as of 29 Sept. 2003
    DATE:
     02/Oct/2003
    VENDOR FIRST NOTIFIED:
     14/Sep/2003

    SUMMARY:
    During a review of the FortiGate firewall, I noticed several security flaws
    in their webapplication. Combining two of the issues could allow a remote
    attacker to obtain a username and password of the fortigate. FortiNet has
    fixed one of the most serious flaws in the maintenance release 4, that is
    available for customers on their FTP as off this week. Since the other
    issues have not yet been fixed, I will not disclose these details at this
    time.

    WEB FILTER LOG PARSES UNFILTERED SESSION DETAILS:
    After the web filter has been enabled, the administrator has the ability to
    review the web filter logs via the web interface. The web filter logs
    contain the URL that has been denied by the filter. Because of the fact that
    unwanted characters are not stripped from the denied URL, a remote attacker
    is able to gain the credentials of an administrator, as soon as the
    administrator reviews the logs.

    EXAMPLE:
    Pages with the keyword "mp3-download" are denied by the web filter. The page
    <http://192.168.5.11/maarten.html> contains such a keyword. A remote
    attacker could poison the log files by retrieving ''
    http://192.168.5.11/maarten.html>alert(oops)</script>

    When altering the script a bit, the user credentials could easily be
    forwarded to the attacker, who could then use these credentials to alter the
    firewall if the administrator has not properly secured access to
    HTTPS/SSH/TELNET/HTTP.

    SOLUTION:
    1. A basic rule in firewall administration is to only allow connections to
    the firewall-administration-options from specific IP addresses (or
    preferably, specific IP addresses connecting from a management network to
    the management interface of the firewall). When this best practise is
    applyed, an attacker that manages to gain administration credentials as
    described above, will not be able to abuse them too easily.
    2. Manage your firewall from a dedicated workstation that has no connections
    (directly OR through a proxy) to untrusted networks in order to avoid a
    credential push as described above.
    3. Upgrade FortiOS 2.50MR4, which (according to fortinet) does not contain
    this problem.

    The first two solutions will also prevent abusal by the issues that have not
    yet been disclosed.


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