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             AUSCERT External Security Bulletin Redistribution

                         ESB-2006.0383 -- [VMware]
 Corsaire Security Advisory: VMware ESX Server Cross Site Scripting issue
                                2 June 2006

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        AusCERT Security Bulletin Summary
        ---------------------------------

Product:              VMWare ESX prior to 2.5.2 upgrade patch 2
                      VMware ESX prior to 2.1.2 upgrade patch 6
                      VMware ESX prior to 2.0.1 upgrade patch 6
Publisher:            UNIRAS
Impact:               Cross-site Scripting
Access:               Remote/Unauthenticated
CVE Names:            CVE-2005-3619

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- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   UNIRAS (UK Govt CERT) Briefing Notice - 376/06 dated 01.06.06  Time: 16:00  
  UNIRAS is part of NISCC (National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre)
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  UNIRAS material is also available from its website at www.uniras.gov.uk and
         Information about NISCC is available from www.niscc.gov.uk
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title
=====

Corsaire Security Advisory: VMware ESX Server Cross Site Scripting issue

Detail
====== 

- -- Corsaire Security Advisory --

Title: VMware ESX Server Cross Site Scripting issue
Date: 14.11.05
Application: VMware ESX prior to 2.5.2 upgrade patch 2
             VMware ESX prior to 2.1.2 upgrade patch 6
             VMware ESX prior to 2.0.1 upgrade patch 6
Environment: VMware ESX
Author: Stephen de Vries [stephen.de.vries@corsaire.com]
Audience: General distribution
Reference: c051114-002


- -- Scope --

The aim of this document is to clearly define an issue that exists with 
the VMware ESX Server product [1] that will allow a remote attacker to 
inject arbitrary active scripting content, such as JavaScript, into a 
web session.


- -- History --

Discovered: 11.11.05 (Stephen de Vries)
Vendor notified via client: 15.11.05
Vendor notified directly: 19.05.06
Document released: 01.06.06


- -- Overview --

VMware ESX Server is described [1] as virtual infrastructure software 
for partitioning, consolidating and managing servers in mission-critical 
environments. 
 
The software provides a virtualization layer that allows multiple x86 
based operating systems to run on the same hardware concurrently.  The 
ESX Server product differs from other VMware products in that it does 
not require a "host" operating system to be provided by the user.  
Instead, it uses a custom x86 kernel as the host, along with a 
customised Linux operating system as a "console O/S". 
 
VMware ESX Server includes a number of network services and a web 
application, called the "VMware Management Interface" that can be used 
to perform remote administration of the system. 


- -- Analysis --

The VMware ESX Server product provides a web application to perform 
management of the system.  One of the functions of this application is 
to allow administrative users to view log files, such as syslog, through 
a browser.  No encoding of syslog data is performed to ensure that HTML 
meta-characters are not interpreted by the browser.  This allows an 
attacker to inject HTML content, including JavaScript, into the syslog 
file where it would be rendered or executed when viewed through the 
Management Interface.  Since the raw syslog data is displayed between 
<div> tags, it is necessary to close the tag for a clean injection.  Two 
injection methods were detected: 
 
1.  An attacker could simply attempt to log in to the Management 
Interface with a username that contains the injection script, such as: 
 
</div><script>alert('XSS')</script> 
 
2.  An attacker could attempt to log in to the ftp server with a 
username containing a similar injection string. 
 
It should be noted that the ftp server is not enabled by default, 
however, the Management Interface is. 
 
This flaw could be used to conduct any number of Cross Site Scripting 
attacks [2], such as Session Hijacking, Cross Site Request Forgery or 
apparent falsification of the syslog data. 
 
The risk of this vulnerability is increased due to the fact that only 
administrative users have permission to view the syslog files through 
the Management Interface.  Should a Session Hijacking attack be 
successful, it would therefore likely yield administrative access. 


- -- Recommendations --

Upgrade to a version of the VMware ESX product that does not exhibit 
this issue:

VMware ESX 2.5.2 upgrade patch 2 and later
VMware ESX 2.1.2 upgrade patch 6 and later
VMware ESX 2.0.1 upgrade patch 6 and later
 

- -- CVE --

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the 
name CVE-2005-3619 to this issue.  This is a candidate for inclusion in 
the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardises names for 
security problems.


- -- References --

[1] http://www.vmware.com/products/esx/ 
[2] http://www.aspectsecurity.com/topten/xss.html


- -- Revision --

a. Initial release.
b. Minor edits.
c. Released.


- -- Distribution --

The information contained within this advisory is supplied "as-is" with 
no warranties or guarantees of fitness of use or otherwise. Corsaire 
accepts no responsibility for any damage caused by the use or misuse of 
this information.


- -- Disclaimer --

The information contained within this advisory is supplied "as-is" with 
no warranties or guarantees of fitness of use or otherwise. Corsaire 
accepts no responsibility for any damage caused by the use or misuse of 
this information.


- -- About Corsaire --

Corsaire are a leading information security consultancy, founded in 1997 
in Guildford, Surrey, UK. Corsaire bring innovation, integrity and 
analytical rigour to every job, which means fast and dramatic security 
performance improvements. Our services centre on the delivery of 
information security planning, assessment, implementation, management 
and vulnerability research. 

A free guide to selecting a security assessment supplier is available at 
http://www.penetration-testing.com 


Copyright 2005-2006 Corsaire Limited. All rights reserved. 

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UNIRAS wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Corsaire for the information 
contained in this Briefing. 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Briefing contains the information released by the original author. Some 
of the information may have changed since it was released. If the vulnerability 
affects you, it may be prudent to retrieve the advisory from the site of the
original source to ensure that you receive the most current information concerning 
that problem.

Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade 
name, trademark manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply 
its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by UNIRAS or NISCC.  The views 
and opinions of authors expressed within this notice shall not be used for 
advertising or product endorsement purposes.

Neither UNIRAS or NISCC shall also accept responsibility for any errors 
or omissions contained within this briefing notice. In particular, they shall 
not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever, arising from or in connection 
with the usage of information contained within this notice.

UNIRAS is a member of the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) 
and has contacts with other international Incident Response Teams (IRTs) in 
order to foster cooperation and coordination in incident prevention, to prompt 
rapid reaction to incidents, and to promote information sharing amongst its 
members and the community at large. 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<End of UNIRAS Briefing>

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