CVE-2020-27213

An issue was discovered in Ethernut Nut/OS 5.1. The code that generates Initial Sequence Numbers (ISNs) for TCP connections derives the ISN from an insufficiently random source. As a result, an attacker may be able to determine the ISN of current and future TCP connections and either hijack existing ones or spoof future ones. While the ISN generator seems to adhere to RFC 793 (where a global 32-bit counter is incremented roughly every 4 microseconds), proper ISN generation should aim to follow at least the specifications outlined in RFC 6528.

Weakness

The product uses insufficiently random numbers or values in a security context that depends on unpredictable numbers.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Use a well-vetted algorithm that is currently considered to be strong by experts in the field, and select well-tested implementations with adequate length seeds.
• In general, if a pseudo-random number generator is not advertised as being cryptographically secure, then it is probably a statistical PRNG and should not be used in security-sensitive contexts.
• Pseudo-random number generators can produce predictable numbers if the generator is known and the seed can be guessed. A 256-bit seed is a good starting point for producing a “random enough” number.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/112.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/485.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/59.html

References

• http://lists.egnite.de/mailman/listinfo/en-nut-announce
• http://www.ethernut.de/en/download/index.html
• https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-21-042-01
• https://www.forescout.com/resources/numberjack-weak-isn-generation-in-embedded-tcpip-stacks/