tomcat6 security update (RHSA-2014-0429)

Original Release Date: May 1, 2014
Last Revised: October 14, 2015
Number: ASA-2014-184
Risk Level: Medium
Advisory Version: 2.0
Advisory Status: Final

1. Overview:

Apache Tomcat is a servlet container for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technologies.

It was found that when Tomcat processed a series of HTTP requests in which at least one request contained either multiple content-length headers, or one content-length header with a chunked transfer-encoding header, Tomcat would incorrectly handle the request. A remote attacker could use this flaw to poison a web cache, perform cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, or obtain sensitive information from other requests. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2013-4286 to this issue.

It was discovered that the fix for CVE-2012-3544 did not properly resolve a denial of service flaw in the way Tomcat processed chunk extensions and trailing headers in chunked requests. A remote attacker could use this flaw to send an excessively long request that, when processed by Tomcat, could consume network bandwidth, CPU, and memory on the Tomcat server. Note that chunked transfer encoding is enabled by default. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2013-4322 to this issue.

A denial of service flaw was found in the way Apache Commons FileUpload handled small-sized buffers used by MultipartStream. A remote attacker could use this flaw to create a malformed Content-Type header for a multipart request, causing JBoss Web to enter an infinite loop when processing such an incoming request. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2014-0050 to this issue.

More information about these vulnerabilities can be found in the security advisory issued by Red Hat:

2. Avaya System Products using a modified version of RHEL6 with affected packages installed:

Product: Affected Version(s): Risk Level: Actions:
Avaya IP Office Server Edition 9.0 thru 9.1.3 Medium Upgrade to 9.1.4 or later.
Avaya IP Office Application Server 9.0 thru 9.1.3 Medium Upgrade to 9.1.4 or later.

Recommended Actions for System Products:
Avaya strongly recommends following networking and security best practices by implementing firewalls, ACLs, physical security or other appropriate access restrictions. Though Avaya believes such restrictions should always be in place, risk to Avaya products and the surrounding network from this potential vulnerability may be mitigated by ensuring these practices are implemented until such time as an Avaya provided product update or the recommended Avaya action is applied. Further restrictions as deemed necessary based on the customer's security policies may be required during this interim period, but the System Product operating system or application should not be modified unless the change is approved by Avaya. Making changes that are not approved may void the Avaya product service contract.

Mitigating Factors:

When determining risk, Avaya takes into account many factors as outlined by Avaya's Security Vulnerability Classification Policy. The following table describes factors that mitigate the risk of specific vulnerabilities for affected Avaya products:

Vulnerability Mitigating Factors
CVE-2013-4286
This is a Low risk as authentication would be required and no critical system processes or applications would be affected, nor would any additional capabilities gained.
CVE-2013-4322
This is a Low risk because chunked transfer encoding requests are not allowed by default.
CVE-2014-0050
This is a Medium risk due to the potental for an authenticated user to cause a Denial of Service.

3. Avaya Software-Only Products:

Avaya software-only products operate on general-purpose operating systems. Occasionally vulnerabilities may be discovered in the underlying operating system or applications that come with the operating system. These vulnerabilities often do not impact the software-only product directly but may threaten the integrity of the underlying platform.

In the case of this advisory Avaya software-only products are not affected by the vulnerability directly but the underlying Linux platform may be. Customers should determine on which Linux operating system the product was installed and then follow that vendor's guidance.

Product: Actions:
Avaya Aura® Experience Portal Depending on the Operating System installed, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the EP application.

Recommended Actions for Software-Only Products:
In the event that the affected package is installed, Avaya recommends following recommended actions supplied by Red Hat regarding their Enterprise Linux.

4. Additional Information:

Additional information may also be available via the Avaya support website and through your Avaya account representative. Please contact your Avaya product support representative, or dial 1-800-242-2121, with any questions.

5. Disclaimer:

ALL INFORMATION IS BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION AND IS PROVIDED "AS IS". AVAYA INC., ON BEHALF ITSELF AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES (HEREINAFTER COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO AS "AVAYA"), DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FURTHERMORE, AVAYA MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES THAT THE STEPS RECOMMENDED WILL ELIMINATE SECURITY OR VIRUS THREATS TO CUSTOMERS' SYSTEMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL AVAYA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE INFORMATION OR RECOMMENDED ACTIONS PROVIDED HEREIN, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, STATUTORY, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF AVAYA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE DOES NOT AFFECT THE SUPPORT AGREEMENTS IN PLACE FOR AVAYA PRODUCTS. SUPPORT FOR AVAYA PRODUCTS CONTINUES TO BE EXECUTED AS PER EXISTING AGREEMENTS WITH AVAYA.

6. Revision History:

V 1.0 - May 1, 2014 - Initial Statement issued.
V 2.0 - October 14, 2015 - Changed IPOSE and IPOAS affected versions and actions, and set advisory status to final.

Avaya customers or Business Partners should report any security issues found with Avaya products via the standard support process.
Independent security researchers can contact Avaya at securityalerts@avaya.com.

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