In PHP versions 7.3.x below 7.3.16 and 7.4.x below 7.4.4, while using mb_strtolower() function with UTF-32LE encoding, certain invalid strings could cause PHP to overwrite stack-allocated buffer. This could lead to memory corruption, crashes and potentially code execution.
Weakness
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
Affected Software
| Name |
Vendor |
Start Version |
End Version |
| Php |
Php |
7.3.0 (including) |
7.3.16 (excluding) |
| Php |
Php |
7.4.0 (including) |
7.4.4 (excluding) |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 |
RedHat |
php:7.3-8020020200715124551.ceb1cf90 |
* |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 |
RedHat |
rh-php73-php-0:7.3.20-1.el7 |
* |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 EUS |
RedHat |
rh-php73-php-0:7.3.20-1.el7 |
* |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 EUS |
RedHat |
rh-php73-php-0:7.3.20-1.el7 |
* |
| Php5 |
Ubuntu |
trusty |
* |
| Php7.3 |
Ubuntu |
eoan |
* |
| Php7.4 |
Ubuntu |
devel |
* |
| Php7.4 |
Ubuntu |
focal |
* |
| Php7.4 |
Ubuntu |
upstream |
* |
Potential Mitigations
- Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
- D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
- Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program’s executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
- Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as “rebasing” (for Windows) and “prelinking” (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
- For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].
References