GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Maven
GHSA-24r8-fm9r-cpj2 Low severity vulnerability that affects com.linecorp.armeria:armeria
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2019-16771
- Ecosystem
- Maven
- Packages
- com.linecorp.armeria:armeria
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-113
- Reviewed
- 2020-06-16
Affected packages
• Maven com.linecorp.armeria:armeria: >= 0.50.0, < 0.97.0 → fixed in 0.97.0
Description
Multiple timing attack vulnerabilities leading to the recovery of secrets based on the use of non-constant time compare function
Impact
String comparison method in multiple authentication validation in Armeria were known to be vulnerable to timing attacks. This vulnerability is caused by the insecure implementation of `equals` method from `java.lang.String`. While this attack is not practically possible, an attacker still has a potential to attack if the victim's server validates user by using `equals` method.
We would like to thank @chrsow for pointing out the issue.
Potentially vulnerable codes
https://github.com/line/armeria/blob/f0d870fde1088114070be31b67f7df0a21e835c6/core/src/main/java/com/linecorp/armeria/server/auth/OAuth2Token.java#L54
https://github.com/line/armeria/blob/f0d870fde1088114070be31b67f7df0a21e835c6/core/src/main/java/com/linecorp/armeria/server/auth/BasicToken.java#L64
Patches
There are two options to patch this issue.
1. Remove `equals` method; it has been exclusively used for test cases and was never used in any OSS projects that are using Armeria. (But it is worth noting that there are possibilities of closed projects authenticating users by utilizing `equals` method)
2. Use `MessageDigest.isEqual` to compare the credential instead.
Workarounds
1. Update to the latest version (TBD)
2-1. Users can prevent these vulnerabilities by modifying and implementing timing attack preventions by themselves.
2-2. Precisely speaking, it is possible to compare credentials by securely comparing them after calling methods to directly return the input (namely `Object. accessToken()`, `Object.username()` and `Object.password()`).
References
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/208.html
• https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/111040/should-i-worry-about-remote-timing-attacks-on-string-comparison
Side Note
Since it is a theoretical attack, there is no PoC available from neither the vendor nor the security team.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2019-16771 Versions of Armeria 0.85.0 through and including 0.96.0 are vulnerable to HTTP response splitting, which allows remote attackers to inject… vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-113 Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers weakness
References
- https://github.com/line/armeria/security/advisories/GHSA-24r8-fm9r-cpj2 web
- https://github.com/line/armeria/security/advisories/GHSA-35fr-h7jr-hh86 web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16771 advisory
- https://github.com/line/armeria/commit/b597f7a865a527a84ee3d6937075cfbb4470ed20 web
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-24r8-fm9r-cpj2 advisory