libcurl 7.49.0 to and including 7.57.0 contains an out bounds read in code handling HTTP/2 trailers. It was reported (https://github.com/curl/curl/pull/2231) that reading an HTTP/2 trailer could mess up future trailers since the stored size was one byte less than required. The problem is that the code that creates HTTP/1-like headers from the HTTP/2 trailer data once appended a string like : to the target buffer, while this was recently changed to : (a space was added after the colon) but the following math wasnt updated correspondingly. When accessed, the data is read out of bounds and causes either a crash or that the (too large) data gets passed to client write. This could lead to a denial-of-service situation or an information disclosure if someone has a service that echoes back or uses the trailers for something.
Weakness
The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.
Affected Software
| Name |
Vendor |
Start Version |
End Version |
| Libcurl |
Haxx |
7.49.0 (including) |
7.57.0 (including) |
| JBoss Core Services Apache HTTP Server 2.4.29 SP2 |
RedHat |
curl |
* |
| Curl |
Ubuntu |
artful |
* |
| Curl |
Ubuntu |
upstream |
* |
| Curl |
Ubuntu |
xenial |
* |
Potential Mitigations
- Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
- When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
- Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
- To reduce the likelihood of introducing an out-of-bounds read, ensure that you validate and ensure correct calculations for any length argument, buffer size calculation, or offset. Be especially careful of relying on a sentinel (i.e. special character such as NUL) in untrusted inputs.
References