[Security-news] SA-CORE-2014-004 - Drupal core - Denial of service

[security-news at drupal.org]

View online: https://www.drupal.org/SA-CORE-2014-004

   * Advisory ID: DRUPAL-SA-CORE-2014-004
   * Project: Drupal core [1]
   * Version: 6.x, 7.x
   * Date: 2014-August-06
   * Security risk: 13/25 ( Moderately Critical)
     AC:None/A:None/CI:None/II:None/E:Proof/TD:100 [2]
   * Exploitable from: Remote
   * Vulnerability: Denial of service

-------- DESCRIPTION
---------------------------------------------------------

Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 include an XML-RPC endpoint which is publicly available
(xmlrpc.php). The PHP XML parser used by this XML-RPC endpoint is vulnerable
to an XML entity expansion attack and other related XML payload attacks which
can cause CPU and memory exhaustion and the site's database to reach the
maximum number of open connections. Any of these may lead to the site
becoming unavailable or unresponsive (denial of service).

All Drupal sites are vulnerable to this attack whether XML-RPC is used or
not.

In addition, a similar vulnerability exists in the core OpenID module (for
sites that have this module enabled).

This is a joint release as the XML-RPC vulnerability also affects WordPress
(see the announcement [3]).


-------- CVE IDENTIFIER(S) ISSUED
--------------------------------------------

   * /A CVE identifier [4] will be requested, and added upon issuance, in
     accordance
            with Drupal Security Team processes./

-------- VERSIONS AFFECTED
---------------------------------------------------

   * Drupal core 7.x versions prior to 7.31.
   * Drupal core 6.x versions prior to 6.33.

-------- SOLUTION
------------------------------------------------------------

Install the latest version:

   * If you use Drupal 7.x, upgrade to Drupal core 7.31 [5].
   * If you use Drupal 6.x, upgrade to Drupal core 6.33 [6].

If you are unable to install the latest version of Drupal immediately, you
can alternatively remove the xmlrpc.php file from the root of Drupal core (or
add a rule to .htaccess to prevent access to xmlrpc.php) and disable the
OpenID module. These steps are sufficient to mitigate the vulnerability in
Drupal core if your site does not require the use of XML-RPC or OpenID
functionality.  However, this mitigation will not be effective if you are
using a contributed module that exposes Drupal's XML-RPC API at a different
URL (for example, the Services module); updating Drupal core is therefore
strongly recommended.

Also see the Drupal core [7] project page.

-------- REPORTED BY
---------------------------------------------------------

   * Willis Vandevanter [8]
   * Nir Goldshlager [9]

-------- FIXED BY
------------------------------------------------------------

   * Andrew Nacin [10] of the WordPress Security Team
   * Michael Adams [11] of the WordPress Security Team
   * Frédéric Marand [12]
   * David Rothstein [13] of the Drupal Security Team
   * Damien Tournoud [14] of the Drupal Security Team
   * Greg Knaddison [15] of the Drupal Security Team
   * Stéphane Corlosquet [16] of the Drupal Security Team
   * Dave Reid [17] of the Drupal Security Team

-------- COORDINATED BY
------------------------------------------------------

   * The Drupal Security Team [18] and the WordPress [19] Security Team

-------- CONTACT AND MORE INFORMATION
----------------------------------------

The Drupal security team can be reached at security at drupal.org or via the
contact form at http://drupal.org/contact [20].

Learn more about the Drupal Security team and their policies [21], writing
secure code for Drupal [22], and securing your site [23].


[1] http://drupal.org/project/drupal
[2] http://drupal.org/security-team/risk-levels
[3] https://wordpress.org/news/2014/08/wordpress-3-9-2/
[4] http://cve.mitre.org/
[5] http://drupal.org/drupal-7.31-release-notes
[6] http://drupal.org/drupal-6.33-release-notes
[7] http://drupal.org/project/drupal
[8] https://www.drupal.org/user/1867894
[9] https://www.drupal.org/user/2891345
[10] http://profiles.wordpress.org/nacin
[11] http://profiles.wordpress.org/mdawaffe
[12] https://www.drupal.org/user/27985
[13] https://www.drupal.org/user/124982
[14] https://www.drupal.org/user/22211
[15] https://www.drupal.org/u/greggles
[16] https://www.drupal.org/user/52142
[17] https://www.drupal.org/user/53892
[18] http://drupal.org/security-team
[19] http://wordpress.org
[20] http://drupal.org/contact
[21] http://drupal.org/security-team
[22] http://drupal.org/writing-secure-code
[23] http://drupal.org/security/secure-configuration