Bug 520200 – <dev-java/httpcomponents-core-4.4.1: Hostname verification susceptible to MITM attack (CVE-2014-3577)

• Status: RESOLVED FIXED
• Product: Gentoo Security

[Description Kristian Fiskerstrand (RETIRED) 2014-08-18 16:59:00 UTC]

From ${URL}:
Apache HttpComponents (prior to revision 4.3.5/4.0.2) may be susceptible 
to a 'Man in the Middle Attack' due to a flaw in the default hostname 
verification during SSL/TLS when a specially crafted server side 
certificate is used.

...

Impact:
- -------

A man-in-the-middle can interpose itself between the server and the
code using an affected version of Apache HttpComponents as a client.

Leading to complete loss of end to end confidentiality and end to 
end integrety of the connection.

Versions affected: 
- ------------------
All versions prior to HttpClient 4.3.5 (including the Android port) 
and HttpAsyncClient 4.0.2. The fix was introduced in these versions.

http://search.maven.org/#artifactdetails|org.apache.httpcomponents|
httpclient|4.3.5|jar
http://search.maven.org/#artifactdetails|org.apache.httpcomponents|
httpasyncclient|4.0.2|jar

These have been silently pushed out to Maven central and Apache Dist 
as of 2014-08-1. An Android build was released on 2014-08-15.

Resolution
- ----------

A fix has been applied as of revision 1614065 and is part of release 
HttpClient 4.3.5 (including HttpClient port for Android against the
official Google Android SDK)and HttpClient (async) 4.0.2.

Upgrading to these versions newer resolves this issue.

Mitigations and work arounds
- ----------------------------

If upgrading to version 4.3.5/4.0.2 is not an option; one could change 
the default org.apache.http.conn.ssl.AbstractVerifier of earlier 
versions for revision 1614065 of newer.

Note that exploitation of this flaw also requires some level of DNS or
IP spoofing (or existing 'in the middle infrastructure' such as a corporate
proxy or other TCP level equipment en-route). This need may allow for site 
specific alternative mitigations.

[Comment 1 GLSAMaker/CVETool Bot 2015-01-04 00:53:51 UTC]

CVE-2014-3577 (http://nvd.nist.gov/nvd.cfm?cvename=CVE-2014-3577):
  org.apache.http.conn.ssl.AbstractVerifier in Apache HttpComponents
  HttpClient before 4.3.5 and HttpAsyncClient before 4.0.2 does not properly
  verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's
  Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field of the X.509 certificate, which
  allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via a "CN=" string
  in a field in the distinguished name (DN) of a certificate, as demonstrated
  by the "foo,CN=www.apache.org" string in the O field.

[Comment 2 Patrice Clement (RETIRED) 2015-06-19 17:05:01 UTC]

+*httpcomponents-core-4.4.1 (19 Jun 2015)
+
+  19 Jun 2015; Patrice Clement <[e-mail]>
+  +files/httpcomponents-core-4.4.1-httpcore-build.xml,
+  +files/httpcomponents-core-4.4.1-httpcore-nio-build.xml,
+  +httpcomponents-core-4.4.1.ebuild:
+  Version bump. Fix security bug 520200.
+

Arch teams,

Please stabilise:
=dev-java/httpcomponents-core-4.4.1

Target arches:
amd64 x86

Thanks.

[Comment 3 Agostino Sarubbo 2015-06-23 15:25:05 UTC]

amd64 stable

[Comment 4 Agostino Sarubbo 2015-06-23 15:25:33 UTC]

x86 stable.

Maintainer(s), please cleanup.

[Comment 5 Kristian Fiskerstrand (RETIRED) 2015-06-23 15:27:35 UTC]

Package never stabilized, setting noglsa. Maintainer, please close the bug after cleanup

[Comment 6 Patrice Clement (RETIRED) 2015-06-26 08:04:02 UTC]

+  26 Jun 2015; Patrice Clement <[e-mail]>
+  -httpcomponents-client-4.3.1-r1.ebuild:
+  Remove vulnerable version. Fix security bug 520200.
+

+  26 Jun 2015; Patrice Clement <[e-mail]>
+  -httpcomponents-core-4.2.4.ebuild, -httpcomponents-core-4.3.ebuild,
+  -httpcomponents-core-4.4.1.ebuild:
+  Remove vulnerable versions. Fix security bug 520200.
+

I had to revbump and stabilise httpcomponents-core-4.4.1-r1.ebuild. See bug 553234 for more info. Closing this bug as per Kristian's comment.