HTTP request smuggling in Apache Tomcat

1) Inconsistent interpretation of HTTP requests

EUVDB-ID: #VU68859

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 5.3 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-42252

CWE-ID: CWE-444 - Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request Smuggling')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform HTTP request smuggling attacks.

The vulnerability exists due to improper validation of HTTP requests. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted HTTP request to the server and smuggle arbitrary HTTP headers via an invalid Content-Length header.

Successful exploitation of vulnerability may allow an attacker to poison HTTP cache and perform phishing attacks but requires Tomcat to be configured to ignore invalid HTTP headers via setting rejectIllegalHeader to false (not the default configuration).

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Apache Tomcat: 8.5.0 - 10.1.0

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:a:apache_foundation:apache_tomcat:8.5.82:*:*:*:*:*:*:
• cpe:2.3:a:apache_foundation:apache_tomcat:9.0.67:*:*:*:*:*:*:
• cpe:2.3:a:apache_foundation:apache_tomcat:10.0.26:*:*:*:*:*:*:
• cpe:2.3:a:apache_foundation:apache_tomcat:10.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:

External links

http://tomcat.apache.org/security-10.html
http://tomcat.apache.org/security-9.html
http://tomcat.apache.org/security-8.html

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

How the attacker can exploit this vulnerability?

The attacker would have to send a specially crafted request to the affected application in order to exploit this vulnerability.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.