CVE-2018-5511 - Use of Externally-Controlled Input to Select Classes or Code ('Unsafe Reflection')

Severity

65%

Complexity

80%

Confidentiality

106%

On F5 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.3 or 13.0.0, when authenticated administrative users execute commands in the Traffic Management User Interface (TMUI), also referred to as the BIG-IP Configuration utility, restrictions on allowed commands may not be enforced.

On F5 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.3 or 13.0.0, when authenticated administrative users execute commands in the Traffic Management User Interface (TMUI), also referred to as the BIG-IP Configuration utility, restrictions on allowed commands may not be enforced.

CVSS 3.0 Base Score 7.2. CVSS Attack Vector: network. CVSS Attack Complexity: low. CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

CVSS 2.0 Base Score 6.5. CVSS Attack Vector: network. CVSS Attack Complexity: low. CVSS Vector: (AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P).

Demo Examples

Use of Externally-Controlled Input to Select Classes or Code ('Unsafe Reflection')

CWE-470

A common reason that programmers use the reflection API is to implement their own command dispatcher. The following example shows a command dispatcher that does not use reflection:


               
ao.doAction(request);
ao = new AddCommand();
ao = new ModifyCommand();
throw new UnknownActionError();

A programmer might refactor this code to use reflection as follows:


               
ao.doAction(request);

The refactoring initially appears to offer a number of advantages. There are fewer lines of code, the if/else blocks have been entirely eliminated, and it is now possible to add new command types without modifying the command dispatcher. However, the refactoring allows an attacker to instantiate any object that implements the Worker interface. If the command dispatcher is still responsible for access control, then whenever programmers create a new class that implements the Worker interface, they must remember to modify the dispatcher's access control code. If they do not modify the access control code, then some Worker classes will not have any access control.

One way to address this access control problem is to make the Worker object responsible for performing the access control check. An example of the re-refactored code follows:


               
ao.doAction(request);

Although this is an improvement, it encourages a decentralized approach to access control, which makes it easier for programmers to make access control mistakes. This code also highlights another security problem with using reflection to build a command dispatcher. An attacker can invoke the default constructor for any kind of object. In fact, the attacker is not even constrained to objects that implement the Worker interface; the default constructor for any object in the system can be invoked. If the object does not implement the Worker interface, a ClassCastException will be thrown before the assignment to ao, but if the constructor performs operations that work in the attacker's favor, the damage will already have been done. Although this scenario is relatively benign in simple applications, in larger applications where complexity grows exponentially it is not unreasonable that an attacker could find a constructor to leverage as part of an attack.

Overview

First reported 6 years ago

2018-04-13 13:29:00

Last updated 5 years ago

2019-10-03 00:03:00

Affected Software

F5 Big-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Application Acceleration Manager (AAM) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Application Acceleration Manager (AAM) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Analytics 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Analytics 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Application Security Manager (ASM) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Application Security Manager (ASM) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Edge Gateway 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Edge Gateway 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Global Traffic Manager (GTM) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Global Traffic Manager (GTM) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Link Controller 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Link Controller 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP WebAccelerator 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP WebAccelerator 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 BIG-IP WebSafe 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP WebSafe 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Domain Name System (DNS) 13.0.0

13.0.0

F5 Big-IP Domain Name System (DNS) 13.1.0

13.1.0

F5 Big-IP Enterprise Manager 3.1.1

3.1.1

VMware Workstation Player 15.0.2

15.0.2

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