ghsa-xq3w-v528-46rv
Vulnerability from github
5.4 (Medium) - CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
Summary
An unsafe reading of environment file could potentially cause a denial of service in Netty. When loaded on an Windows application, Netty attemps to load a file that does not exist. If an attacker creates such a large file, the Netty application crash.
Details
When the library netty is loaded in a java windows application, the library tries to identify the system environnement in which it is executed.
At this stage, Netty tries to load both /etc/os-release
and /usr/lib/os-release
even though it is in a Windows environment.
If netty finds this files, it reads them and loads them into memory.
By default :
- The JVM maximum memory size is set to 1 GB,
- A non-privileged user can create a directory at
C:\
and create files within it.
the source code identified : https://github.com/netty/netty/blob/4.1/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/internal/PlatformDependent.java
Despite the implementation of the function normalizeOs()
the source code not verify the OS before reading C:\etc\os-release
and C:\usr\lib\os-release
.
PoC
Create a file larger than 1 GB of data in C:\etc\os-release
or C:\usr\lib\os-release
on a Windows environnement and start your Netty application.
To observe what the application does with the file, the security analyst used "Process Monitor" from the "Windows SysInternals" suite. (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/)
cd C:\etc
fsutil file createnew os-release 3000000000
The source code used is the Netty website code example : Echo ‐ the very basic client and server.
The vulnerability was tested on the 4.1.112.Final version.
The security analyst tried the same technique for C:\proc\sys\net\core\somaxconn
with a lot of values to impact Netty but the only things that works is the "larger than 1 GB file" technique. https://github.com/netty/netty/blob/c0fdb8e9f8f256990e902fcfffbbe10754d0f3dd/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/NetUtil.java#L186
Impact
By loading the "file larger than 1 GB" into the memory, the Netty library exceeds the JVM memory limit and causes a crash in the java Windows application.
This behaviour occurs 100% of the time in both Server mode and Client mode if the large file exists.
Client mode :
Server mode :
somaxconn :
Severity
- Attack vector : "Local" because the attacker needs to be on the system where the Netty application is running.
- Attack complexity : "Low" because the attacker only need to create a massive file (regardless of its contents).
- Privileges required : "Low" because the attacker requires a user account to exploit the vulnerability.
- User intercation : "None" because the administrator don't need to accidentally click anywhere to trigger the vulnerability. Furthermore, the exploitation works with defaults windows/AD settings.
- Scope : "Unchanged" because only Netty is affected by the vulnerability.
- Confidentiality : "None" because no data is exposed through exploiting the vulnerability.
- Integrity : "None" because the explotation of the vulnerability does not allow editing, deleting or adding data elsewhere.
- Availability : "High" because the exploitation of this vulnerability crashes the entire java application.
{ affected: [ { database_specific: { last_known_affected_version_range: "<= 4.1.114.Final", }, package: { ecosystem: "Maven", name: "io.netty:netty-common", }, ranges: [ { events: [ { introduced: "0", }, { fixed: "4.1.115.Final", }, ], type: "ECOSYSTEM", }, ], }, ], aliases: [ "CVE-2024-47535", ], database_specific: { cwe_ids: [ "CWE-400", ], github_reviewed: true, github_reviewed_at: "2024-11-12T19:53:17Z", nvd_published_at: "2024-11-12T16:15:22Z", severity: "MODERATE", }, details: "### Summary\n\nAn unsafe reading of environment file could potentially cause a denial of service in Netty.\nWhen loaded on an Windows application, Netty attemps to load a file that does not exist. If an attacker creates such a large file, the Netty application crash.\n\n\n### Details\n\nWhen the library netty is loaded in a java windows application, the library tries to identify the system environnement in which it is executed.\n\nAt this stage, Netty tries to load both `/etc/os-release` and `/usr/lib/os-release` even though it is in a Windows environment. \n\n<img width=\"364\" alt=\"1\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9466b181-9394-45a3-b0e3-1dcf105def59\">\n\nIf netty finds this files, it reads them and loads them into memory.\n\nBy default :\n\n- The JVM maximum memory size is set to 1 GB,\n- A non-privileged user can create a directory at `C:\\` and create files within it.\n\n<img width=\"340\" alt=\"2\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/43b359a2-5871-4592-ae2b-ffc40ac76831\">\n\n<img width=\"523\" alt=\"3\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ad5c6eed-451c-4513-92d5-ba0eee7715c1\">\n\nthe source code identified :\nhttps://github.com/netty/netty/blob/4.1/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/internal/PlatformDependent.java\n\nDespite the implementation of the function `normalizeOs()` the source code not verify the OS before reading `C:\\etc\\os-release` and `C:\\usr\\lib\\os-release`.\n\n### PoC\n\nCreate a file larger than 1 GB of data in `C:\\etc\\os-release` or `C:\\usr\\lib\\os-release` on a Windows environnement and start your Netty application.\n\nTo observe what the application does with the file, the security analyst used \"Process Monitor\" from the \"Windows SysInternals\" suite. (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/)\n\n```\ncd C:\\etc\nfsutil file createnew os-release 3000000000\n```\n\n<img width=\"519\" alt=\"4\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/39df22a3-462b-4fd0-af9a-aa30077ec08f\">\n\n<img width=\"517\" alt=\"5\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/129dbd50-fc36-4da5-8eb1-582123fb528f\">\n\nThe source code used is the Netty website code example : [Echo ‐ the very basic client and server](https://netty.io/4.1/xref/io/netty/example/echo/package-summary.html).\n\nThe vulnerability was tested on the 4.1.112.Final version.\n\nThe security analyst tried the same technique for `C:\\proc\\sys\\net\\core\\somaxconn` with a lot of values to impact Netty but the only things that works is the \"larger than 1 GB file\" technique. https://github.com/netty/netty/blob/c0fdb8e9f8f256990e902fcfffbbe10754d0f3dd/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/NetUtil.java#L186\n\n### Impact\n\nBy loading the \"file larger than 1 GB\" into the memory, the Netty library exceeds the JVM memory limit and causes a crash in the java Windows application.\n\nThis behaviour occurs 100% of the time in both Server mode and Client mode if the large file exists.\n\nClient mode :\n\n<img width=\"449\" alt=\"6\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f8fe1ed0-1a42-4490-b9ed-dbc9af7804be\">\n\nServer mode :\n\n<img width=\"464\" alt=\"7\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b34b42bd-4fbd-4170-b93a-d29ba87b88eb\">\n\nsomaxconn :\n\n<img width=\"532\" alt=\"8\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0656b3bb-32c6-4ae2-bff7-d93babba08a3\">\n\n### Severity\n\n- Attack vector : \"Local\" because the attacker needs to be on the system where the Netty application is running.\n- Attack complexity : \"Low\" because the attacker only need to create a massive file (regardless of its contents).\n- Privileges required : \"Low\" because the attacker requires a user account to exploit the vulnerability.\n- User intercation : \"None\" because the administrator don't need to accidentally click anywhere to trigger the vulnerability. Furthermore, the exploitation works with defaults windows/AD settings.\n- Scope : \"Unchanged\" because only Netty is affected by the vulnerability.\n- Confidentiality : \"None\" because no data is exposed through exploiting the vulnerability.\n- Integrity : \"None\" because the explotation of the vulnerability does not allow editing, deleting or adding data elsewhere.\n- Availability : \"High\" because the exploitation of this vulnerability crashes the entire java application.", id: "GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv", modified: "2025-02-18T15:57:45Z", published: "2024-11-12T19:53:17Z", references: [ { type: "WEB", url: "https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv", }, { type: "ADVISORY", url: "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-47535", }, { type: "WEB", url: "https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/fbf7a704a82e7449b48bd0bbb679f5661c6d61a3", }, { type: "PACKAGE", url: "https://github.com/netty/netty", }, ], schema_version: "1.4.0", severity: [ { score: "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H", type: "CVSS_V3", }, { score: "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P", type: "CVSS_V4", }, ], summary: "Denial of Service attack on windows app using netty", }
Log in or create an account to share your comment.
This schema specifies the format of a comment related to a security advisory.
Sightings
Author | Source | Type | Date |
---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.