Multiple Code Execution Flaws Found In PHP Programming Language

Sep 6, 2019

Maintainers of the PHP programming language recently released
the latest versions of PHP to patch multiple high-severity
vulnerabilities in its core and bundled libraries, the most severe
of which could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code and
compromise targeted servers.

Hypertext Preprocessor, commonly known as PHP, is the most
popular server-side web programming language that powers over 78
percent of the Internet today.

The latest releases under several maintained branches include
PHP version 7.3.9, 7.2.22 and 7.1.32, addressing multiple security
vulnerabilities.

Depending on the type, occurrence, and usage of the affected
codebase in a PHP application, successful exploitation of some of
the most severe vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute
arbitrary code in the context of the affected application with
associated privileges.

Other the other hand, Failed attempts at exploitation will
likely result in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the
affected systems.

The vulnerabilities could leave hundreds of thousands of web
applications that rely on PHP open to code execution attacks,
including websites powered by some popular content management
systems like WordPress, Drupal and Typo3.

Out of these, a ‘use-after-free’ code execution vulnerability,
assigned as CVE-2019-13224, resides in Oniguruma, a popular regular
expression library that comes bundled with PHP, as well as many
other programming languages.

A remote attacker can exploit this flaw by inserting a specially
crafted regular expression in an affected web application,
potentially leading to code execution or causing information
disclosure.

“The attacker provides a pair of a regex pattern and a string, with
a multi-byte encoding that gets handled by onig_new_deluxe(),” Red
Hat says in its security advisory describing
the vulnerability.

Other patched flaws affect curl extension, Exif function,
FastCGI Process Manager (FPM), Opcache feature, and more.

Good news is that so far there is no report of any of these
security vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild by
attackers.

The PHP security team has addressed the vulnerabilities in the
latest versions. So users are strongly recommended to upgrade their
servers to the latest PHP version 7.3.9 ^[2], 7.2.22 ^[3], or 7.1.32 ^[4].

^[1]

References

^{^}
advisory
(access.redhat.com)
^{^}
7.3.9
(www.php.net)
^{^}
7.2.22
(www.php.net)
^{^}
7.1.32
(www.php.net)

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OWASP TOP !0

Injection. Injection flaws, such as SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection, occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query. The attacker’s hostile data can trick the interpreter into executing unintended commands or accessing data without proper authorization. Broken Authentication. Application functions related to authentication and session management are often implemented incorrectly, allowing attackers to compromise passwords, keys, or session tokens, or to exploit other implementation flaws to assume other users’ identities temporarily or permanently. Sensitive Data Exposure. Many web applications and APIs do not properly protect sensitive data, such as financial, healthcare, and PII. Attackers may steal or modify such weakly protected data to conduct credit card fraud, identity theft, or other crimes. Sensitive data may be compromised without extra protection, such as encryption at rest or in transit, and requires special precautions when exchanged with the browser. XML External Entities (XXE). Many older or poorly configured XML processors evaluate external entity references within XML documents. External entities can be used to disclose internal files using the file URI handler, internal file shares, internal port scanning, remote code execution, and denial of service attacks. Broken Access Control. Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are often not properly enforced. Attackers can exploit these flaws to access unauthorized functionality and/or data, such as access other users’ accounts, view sensitive files, modify other users’ data, change access rights, etc. Security Misconfiguration. Security misconfiguration is the most commonly seen issue. This is commonly a result of insecure default configurations, incomplete or ad hoc configurations, open cloud storage, misconfigured HTTP headers, and verbose error messages containing sensitive information. Not only must all operating systems, frameworks, libraries, and applications be securely configured, but they must be patched/upgraded in a timely fashion. Cross-Site Scripting XSS. XSS flaws occur whenever an application includes untrusted data in a new web page without proper validation or escaping, or updates an existing web page with user-supplied data using a browser API that can create HTML or JavaScript. XSS allows attackers to execute scripts in the victim’s browser which can hijack user sessions, deface web sites, or redirect the user to malicious sites. Insecure Deserialization. Insecure deserialization often leads to remote code execution. Even if deserialization flaws do not result in remote code execution, they can be used to perform attacks, including replay attacks, injection attacks, and privilege escalation attacks. Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities. Components, such as libraries, frameworks, and other software modules, run with the same privileges as the application. If a vulnerable component is exploited, such an attack can facilitate serious data loss or server takeover. Applications and APIs using components with known vulnerabilities may undermine application defenses and enable various attacks and impacts. Insufficient Logging & Monitoring. Insufficient logging and monitoring, coupled with missing or ineffective integration with incident response, allows attackers to further attack systems, maintain persistence, pivot to more systems, and tamper, extract, or destroy data. Most breach studies show time to detect a breach is over 200 days, typically detected by external parties rather than internal processes or monitoring.

Multiple Code Execution Flaws Found In PHP Programming Language

References

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