Advisory: Webster HTTP Server

From: Matthew Murphy (mattmurphyat_private)
Date: Sun Dec 01 2002 - 10:15:11 PST

  • Next message: Jason Coombs: "RE: Kerberos login sniffer and cracker for Windows 2000/XP"

    ABSTRACT
    
    Webster HTTP Server is an HTTP/1.0 server written in C++ using Microsoft
    Foundation Classes (MFC).  It runs on Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, Me, and XP
    platforms.  It was first published as a sample application in Microsoft
    Journal (MSJ).  Multiple security flaws have been identified in Webster that
    could allow an attacker to take various actions on the server, ranging from
    script execution to complete compromise.
    
    DESCRIPTION
    
    There are three vulnerabilities in Webster, all related to the processing of
    malicious requests:
    
    I. Buffer Overrun
    
    There is a security flaw in Webster that allows an attacker to completely
    compromise the server.  If given a URI that is 275 characters or longer, the
    saved return address will be overwritten.  Execution of arbitrary code is
    possible:
    
    http://www.techie.hopto.org/exploits/webster.txt
    
    II. Directory Traversal
    
    Another seperate security flaw occurs with poor path validation.  Webster
    will follow '/../' sequences in URL path names, allowing access to files
    above the document root.  This vulnerability may be used for further
    compromise if security sensitive files are retreived (the Windows NT SAM
    file, for instance).
    
    http://www.techie.hopto.org/exploits/webster2.txt
    
    III. Cross-site Scripting
    
    Another small vulnerability was uncovered in Webster.  If a path name
    containing HTML markup is used, that path will be returned to the browser as
    HTML content, enabling zone bypass.
    
    Example: http://websterhost.edu/>alert(document.URL)</SCRIPT>/
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Dec 02 2002 - 11:09:06 PST