Staging Environment: Content and features may be unstable or change without notice.
Advisory details: github_osv / GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv
Advisory ID github_osv/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv
Aliases CVE-2024-47535
Summary Denial of Service attack on windows app using netty ### 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. <img width="364" alt="1" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9466b181-9394-45a3-b0e3-1dcf105def59"> 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. <img width="340" alt="2" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/43b359a2-5871-4592-ae2b-ffc40ac76831"> <img width="523" alt="3" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ad5c6eed-451c-4513-92d5-ba0eee7715c1"> 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 ``` <img width="519" alt="4" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/39df22a3-462b-4fd0-af9a-aa30077ec08f"> <img width="517" alt="5" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/129dbd50-fc36-4da5-8eb1-582123fb528f"> The 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). 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 : <img width="449" alt="6" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f8fe1ed0-1a42-4490-b9ed-dbc9af7804be"> Server mode : <img width="464" alt="7" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b34b42bd-4fbd-4170-b93a-d29ba87b88eb"> somaxconn : <img width="532" alt="8" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0656b3bb-32c6-4ae2-bff7-d93babba08a3"> ### 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.
Status Published
Exploitability 0.5
Weighted Severity 5.0
Risk 2.5
Affected and Fixed Packages Package Details
Introduced and Fixed Package Commit Patches Package Commit Patches Details
Weaknesses (1)
No exploits are available.

No EPSS data available for this advisory.

Patch URL
There are no known patches.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Found at https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2024/11/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv.json
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none

Vector: 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 Found at https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2024/11/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv.json
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Attack Requirements (AT) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Vulnerable System Impact Confidentiality (VC) Vulnerable System Impact Integrity (VI) Vulnerable System Impact Availability (VA) Subsequent System Impact Confidentiality (SC) Subsequent System Impact Integrity (SI) Subsequent System Impact Availability (SA)

network

adjacent

local

physical

low

high

none

present

none

low

high

none

passive

active

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none

Vector: SSVCv2/E:P/A:N/T:P/P:M/B:A/M:M/D:T/2024-11-13T20:43:58Z/

Decision: Track

Source URL: https://github.com/cisagov/vulnrichment/blob/develop/2024/47xxx/CVE-2024-47535.json

Source Advisory: vulnrichment/CVE-2024-47535

View SSVC decision tree
[{'Exploitation': 'poc'},
 {'Automatable': 'no'},
 {'Technical Impact': 'partial'},
 {'Mission Prevalence': 'minimal'},
 {'Public Well-being Impact': 'material'},
 {'Mission & Well-being': 'medium'}]