A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Quarkus-HTTP, a popular Java web server framework. This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-12397, could allow an attacker to bypass security measures such as HttpOnly and exfiltrate sensitive cookie data or inject malicious cookie values. In this post, we will explore the details of this vulnerability, its potential impact, and how to protect your applications.

Vulnerability Details

The vulnerability stems from an incorrect parsing of cookies containing specific value-delimiting characters in incoming HTTP requests by Quarkus-HTTP. This issue may allow an attacker to craft a malicious cookie value that bypasses the HttpOnly flag and retrieves or manipulates cookie data, leading to unauthorized data access or modification. The main threat associated with CVE-2024-12397 lies in the potential compromise of data confidentiality and integrity.

Exploiting the Flaw

The vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker who can intercept HTTP requests containing cookies processed by the Quarkus-HTTP engine. To do this, the attacker can manipulate the request to inject their malicious payload. Here's a simplified example, in Python, of a possible exploiting technique:

import requests

target_url = 'http://vulnerable-website.com';
malicious_cookie = 'session=1234;%20malicious_key=malicious_value'

# Custom headers containing the injected cookie
headers = {'Cookie': malicious_cookie}

# Send the malicious request
response = requests.get(target_url, headers=headers)

In this example, malicious_key and malicious_value are arbitrary values the attacker seeks to inject into the target application.

Mitigating the Threat

To address this vulnerability, developers should update their Quarkus-HTTP installations immediately. The maintainers of the library have released a security patch to address the issue. Links to the original references, patch details, and affected versions can be found below:

- Quarkus GitHub Repository
- CVE-2024-12397 Patch Details
- Affected Versions

To minimize possible exploitation before applying the patch, developers can also consider implementing additional security measures, such as:

Enforcing TLS for all the connections to protect sensitive data in transit.

2. Employing input validation to check for malicious characters in cookie values before they reach the application logic.
3. Limiting the exposure of sensitive information through the use of custom headers, such as 'Authorization', instead of cookies.

Conclusion and Recommendations

CVE-2024-12397 is a serious vulnerability that should not be taken lightly. To protect your applications, it is highly recommended to apply the security patch as soon as possible and follow the best practices mentioned above. Stay vigilant and regularly check for updates in your software dependencies to maintain a strong security posture.

Timeline

Published on: 12/12/2024 09:15:05 UTC
Last modified on: 12/13/2024 10:24:58 UTC