ESB-2023.3884 – [Appliance] BIG-IP (all modules): CVSS (Max): 5.3 [auscert.org.au]

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AUSCERT External Security Bulletin Redistribution

ESB-2023.3884
K000135262 : Apache Tomcat vulnerability CVE-2023-28709
12 July 2023

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AusCERT Security Bulletin Summary
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Product: BIG-IP (all modules)
Publisher: F5 Networks
Operating System: Network Appliance
Resolution: Mitigation
CVE Names: CVE-2023-28709 CVE-2023-24998

Original Bulletin:
https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000135262

Comment: CVSS (Max): 5.3 CVE-2023-28709 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
CVSS Source: F5 Networks
Calculator: https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.1#CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

**AusCERT wishes to advise that there has been a delay in reporting F5 security notifications for
June, 2023 due to a technical issue which has been identified. This issue has been rectified.

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K000135262: Apache Tomcat vulnerability CVE-2023-28709

Published Date: Jun 28, 2023

Security Advisory Description

The fix for CVE-2023-24998 was incomplete for Apache Tomcat 11.0.0-M2 to
11.0.0-M4, 10.1.5 to 10.1.7, 9.0.71 to 9.0.73 and 8.5.85 to 8.5.87. If
non-default HTTP connector settings were used such that the maxParameterCount
could be reached using query string parameters and a request was submitted that
supplied exactly maxParameterCount parameters in the query string, the limit
for uploaded request parts could be bypassed with the potential for a denial of
service to occur. (CVE-2023-28709)

Impact

This vulnerability occurs in the BIG-IP system (all the ‘/tmui/*’ requests are
handled by Tomcat in the BIG-IP system) and uses Apache Tomcat when non-default
HTTP connector settings are configured (maxParameterCount=”32500″ this is a
non-default configuration in tomcat server.xml of the BIG-IP system), allowing
a large number of query string parameters. If a request with the exact maximum
number of allowed parameters is submitted, the system can bypass the limit for
uploaded request parts, potentially leading to a denial-of-service (DoS)
situation.

Security Advisory Status

F5 Product Development has assigned ID 1306309 (BIG-IP) to this vulnerability.

To determine if your product and version have been evaluated for this
vulnerability, refer to the Evaluated products box. To determine if your
release is known to be vulnerable, the components or features that are affected
by the vulnerability, and for information about releases, point releases, or
hotfixes that address the vulnerability, refer to the following tables. You can
also use iHealth to diagnose a vulnerability for BIG-IP and BIG-IQ systems. For
more information about using iHealth, refer to K27404821: Using F5 iHealth to
diagnose vulnerabilities. For more information about security advisory
versioning, refer to K51812227: Understanding security advisory versioning.

In this section

o BIG-IP and BIG-IQ
o F5OS
o NGINX
o Other products

BIG-IP and BIG-IQ

Note: After a fix is introduced for a given minor branch, that fix applies to
all subsequent maintenance and point releases for that branch, and no
additional fixes for that branch will be listed in the table. For example, when
a fix is introduced in 14.1.2.3, the fix also applies to 14.1.2.4, and all
later 14.1.x releases (14.1.3.x., 14.1.4.x). For more information, refer to
K51812227: Understanding security advisory versioning.

+————+——+————–+———-+———-+——+————-+
| | |Versions known|Fixes | |CVSSv3|Vulnerable |
|Product |Branch|to be |introduced|Severity |score^|component or |
| | |vulnerable^1 |in | |2 |feature |
+————+——+————–+———-+———-+——+————-+
| |17.x |17.0.0 – |None | | | |
| | |17.1.0 | | | | |
| +——+————–+———-+ | | |
| |16.x |16.1.0 – |None | | | |
| | |16.1.3 | | | | |
| +——+————–+———-+ | | |
|BIG-IP (all |15.x |15.1.0 – |None |Medium |5.3 |Apache Tomcat|
|modules) | |15.1.9 | | | | |
| +——+————–+———-+ | | |
| |14.x |14.1.0 – |None | | | |
| | |14.1.5 | | | | |
| +——+————–+———-+ | | |
| |13.x |13.1.0 – |None | | | |
| | |13.1.5 | | | | |
+————+——+————–+———-+———-+——+————-+
|BIG-IP Next |All |None |Not |Not |None |None |
|SPK | | |applicable|vulnerable| | |
+————+——+————–+———-+———-+——+————-+
|BIG-IQ | | |Not |Not | | |
|Centralized |All |None |applicable|vulnerable|None |None |
|Management | | | | | | |
+————+——+————–+———-+———-+——+————-+

^1F5 evaluates only software versions that have not yet reached the End of
Technical Support (EoTS) phase of their lifecycle. For more information, refer
to the Security hotfixes section of K4602: Overview of the F5 security
vulnerability response policy.

^2The CVSSv3 score link takes you to a resource outside of MyF5, and it is
possible that the document may be removed without our knowledge.

F5OS

^2The CVSSv3 score link takes you to a resource outside of MyF5, and it is
possible that the document may be removed without our knowledge.

NGINX

^2The CVSSv3 score link takes you to a resource outside of MyF5, and it is
possible that the document may be removed without our knowledge.

Other products

^2The CVSSv3 score link takes you to a resource outside of MyF5, and it is
possible that the document may be removed without our knowledge.

Security Advisory Recommended Actions

If you are running a version listed in the Versions known to be vulnerable
column, you can eliminate this vulnerability by installing a version listed in
the Fixes introduced in column. If the Fixes introduced in column does not list
a version for your branch, then no update candidate currently exists for that
branch and F5 recommends that you upgrade to a version with the fix (refer to
the tables).

If the Fixes introduced in column lists a version prior to the one you are
running, in the same branch, then your version should have the fix.

Mitigation

Until you can install a fixed version, you can use the following sections as
temporary mitigations. These mitigations restrict access to the Configuration
utility to only trusted networks or devices, thereby limiting the attack
surface.

o Block Configuration utility access through self IP addresses
o Block Configuration utility access through the management interface

Block Configuration utility access through self IP addresses

You can block all access to the Configuration utility of your BIG-IP system
using self IP addresses. To do so, you can change the Port Lockdown setting to
Allow None for each self IP address on the system. If you must open any ports,
you should use the Allow Custom option, taking care to block access to the
Configuration utility. By default, the Configuration utility listens on TCP
port 443. If you modified the default port, ensure that you block access to the
alternate port you configured.

Note: Performing this action prevents all access to the Configuration utility
and iControl REST using the self IP address. These changes may also impact
other services, including breaking high availability (HA) configurations.

Before you make changes to the configuration of your self IP addresses, F5
strongly recommends that you refer to the following articles:

o K17333: Overview of port lockdown behavior (12.x – 17.x)
o K13092: Overview of securing access to the BIG-IP system
o K31003634: The Configuration utility of the Single-NIC BIG-IP Virtual
Edition now defaults to TCP port 8443
o K51358480: The single-NIC BIG-IP VE may erroneously revert to the default
management httpd port after a configuration reload

If you must expose port 443 on your self IP addresses and want to restrict
access to specific IP ranges, you may consider using the packet filtering
functionality built into the BIG-IP system. For more information, refer to the
following article:

o K13383: Configuring CIDR Network Addresses for the BIG-IP packet filter

Block Configuration utility access through the management interface

To mitigate this vulnerability for affected F5 products, you should restrict
management access to F5 products to only trusted users and devices over a
secure network. For more information about securing access to BIG-IP systems,
refer to the following articles:

o K13309: Restricting access to the Configuration utility by source IP
address (11.x – 17.x)
o K13092: Overview of securing access to the BIG-IP system
o K46122561: Restricting access to the management interface using network
firewall rules

Related Content

o K41942608: Overview of MyF5 security advisory articles
o K12201527: Overview of Quarterly Security Notifications
o K51812227: Understanding security advisory versioning
o K4602: Overview of the F5 security vulnerability response policy
o K4918: Overview of the F5 critical issue hotfix policy
o K39757430: F5 product and services lifecycle policy index
o K9502: BIG-IP hotfix and point release matrix
o K13123: Managing BIG-IP product hotfixes (11.x – 17.x)
o K167: Downloading software and firmware from F5
o K9970: Subscribing to email notifications regarding F5 products
o K9957: Creating a custom RSS feed to view new and updated documents

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Australian Computer Emergency Response Team
The University of Queensland
Brisbane
Qld 4072

Internet Email: [email protected]
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