Input validation error in Apache HTTP Server - CVE-2013-6438
Published: March 18, 2014 / Updated: July 28, 2020
Vulnerability identifier: #VU32549
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4: 6.9 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2013-6438
CWE-ID: CWE-20
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to perform service disruption.
The dav_xml_get_cdata function in main/util.c in the mod_dav module in the Apache HTTP Server before 2.4.8 does not properly remove whitespace characters from CDATA sections, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via a crafted DAV WRITE request.
Affected software
Apache HTTP Server
Amazon Linux AMI
Gentoo Linux
SUSE Linux
Slackware Linux
apache2 (Alpine package)
HP-UX Web Server Suite
Amazon Linux AMI
Gentoo Linux
SUSE Linux
Slackware Linux
apache2 (Alpine package)
HP-UX Web Server Suite
How to mitigate CVE-2013-6438
Install update from vendor's website.
Apache HTTP Server - update to 2.4.8
apache2 (Alpine package) - update to 2.2.27-r0
HP-UX Web Server Suite - update to 4.02
apache2 (Alpine package) - update to 2.2.27-r0
HP-UX Web Server Suite - update to 4.02
External References
- http://advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2014-0135.html
- http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2014-10/0101.html
- http://kb.juniper.net/InfoCenter/index?page=content&id=JSA10698
- http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Apr/msg00001.html
- http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=141017844705317&w=2
- http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=141390017113542&w=2
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2014/Dec/23
- http://secunia.com/advisories/58230
- http://secunia.com/advisories/59315
- http://secunia.com/advisories/59345
- http://secunia.com/advisories/60536
- http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201408-12.xml
- http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/httpd/httpd/branches/2.2.x/CHANGES
- http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/httpd/httpd/trunk/modules/dav/main/util.c
- http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/httpd/httpd/trunk/modules/dav/main/util.c?r1=1528718&r2=1556428&diff_format=h
- http://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/CHANGES_2.4.9
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujan2015-1972971.html
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujul2014-1972956.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/534161/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/66303
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2152-1
- http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2014-0012.html
- http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21669554
- http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21676091
- http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21676092
- https://blogs.oracle.com/sunsecurity/entry/multiple_input_validation_vulnerabilities_in1
- https://httpd.apache.org/security/vulnerabilities_24.html
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/56c2e7cc9deb1c12a843d0dc251ea7fd3e7e80293cde02fcd65286ba@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/84a3714f0878781f6ed84473d1a503d2cc382277e100450209231830@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/8d63cb8e9100f28a99429b4328e4e7cebce861d5772ac9863ba2ae6f@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/f7f95ac1cd9895db2714fa3ebaa0b94d0c6df360f742a40951384a53@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r57608dc51b79102f3952ae06f54d5277b649c86d6533dcd6a7d201f7@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd18c3c43602e66f9cdcf09f1de233804975b9572b0456cc582390b6f@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/re3d27b6250aa8548b8845d314bb8a350b3df326cacbbfdfe4d455234@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rfbaf647d52c1cb843e726a0933f156366a806cead84fbd430951591b@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
- https://puppet.com/security/cve/cve-2013-6438
- https://support.apple.com/HT204659
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT6535
Related Security Bulletins
- Input validation error in Apache HTTP Server
- Input validation error in apache2 (Alpine package)
- SUSE Linux update for apache2
- SUSE Linux update for apache2
- SUSE Linux update for the Apache Web Server
- Amazon Linux AMI update for httpd
- Gentoo update for Apache HTTP Server
- Slackware Linux update for httpd
- Multiple vulnerabilities in HP-UX Apache Server Suite running Apache Tomcat or PHP