Broadcom API Portal 5.x - CVE-2022-0778 vulnerability

Products

• CA API Developer Portal

Issue/Introduction

Customers have raised a concern regarding CVE-2022-0778 vulnerability and possible impact with OpenSSL packaged within Portal 5.x containers.

 

Environment

API Portal 5.x

Cause

CVE-2022-0778 venerability description:

"... The BN_mod_sqrt() function, which computes a modular square root, contains a bug that can cause it to loop forever for non-prime moduli. Internally this function is used when parsing certificates that contain elliptic curve public keys in compressed form or explicit elliptic curve parameters with a base point encoded in compressed form. It is possible to trigger the infinite loop by crafting a certificate that has invalid explicit curve parameters. Since certificate parsing happens prior to verification of the certificate signature, any process that parses an externally supplied certificate may thus be subject to a denial of service attack. The infinite loop can also be reached when parsing crafted private keys as they can contain explicit elliptic curve parameters. Thus vulnerable situations include: - TLS clients consuming server certificates - TLS servers consuming client certificates - Hosting providers taking certificates or private keys from customers - Certificate authorities parsing certification requests from subscribers - Anything else which parses ASN.1 elliptic curve parameters Also any other applications that use the BN_mod_sqrt() where the attacker can control the parameter values are vulnerable to this DoS issue. In the OpenSSL 1.0.2 version the public key is not parsed during initial parsing of the certificate which makes it slightly harder to trigger the infinite loop. However any operation which requires the public key from the certificate will trigger the infinite loop. In particular the attacker can use a self-signed certificate to trigger the loop during verification of the certificate signature. This issue affects OpenSSL versions 1.0.2, 1.1.1 and 3.0. It was addressed in the releases of 1.1.1n and 3.0.2 on the 15th March 2022. Fixed in OpenSSL 3.0.2 (Affected 3.0.0,3.0.1). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1n (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1m). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2zd (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2zc)..."

Reference: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2022-0778

Resolution

Broadcom has conducted an internal analysis to check the impact of CVE-2022-0778 and Portal 5.x. Based on the vulnerability description, it was decided that Portal is NOT immediately vulnerable to the attack since the only time the certificates are processed by Ngnix container is on startup. We do not use OpenSSL libraries on pssg/ingress containers at runtime and Nginx container vulnerability is only exploitable on Portal startup if the malicious certificate is directly supplied, in which case, Portal dispatcher container would fail to start. However, this would have to be done by a user with direct authentication on the server and not remotely. 

Additional Information

The underlying OS hosting the Docker containers, may require upgrading OpenSSL package if running a vulnerable version:

Issue affects OpenSSL versions 1.0.2, 1.1.1 and 3.0. It was addressed in the releases of 1.1.1n and 3.0.2. Fixed in OpenSSL 3.0.2 (Affected 3.0.0,3.0.1). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1n (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1m). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2zd (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2zc)