CVE-2020-9490

Public on

Last Modified: UTC

Description

A flaw was found in Apache httpd in versions prior to 2.4.46. A specially crafted Cache-Digest header triggers negative argument to memmove() that could lead to a crash and denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

A flaw was found in Apache httpd in versions prior to 2.4.46. A specially crafted Cache-Digest header triggers negative argument to memmove() that could lead to a crash and denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

Statement

As per upstream this flaw only affects Apache HTTP Server versions 2.4.20 to 2.4.43. Therefore only httpd packages shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 are affected.

As per upstream this flaw only affects Apache HTTP Server versions 2.4.20 to 2.4.43. Therefore only httpd packages shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 are affected.

Mitigation

Configuring the HTTP/2 feature via "H2Push off" will mitigate this vulnerability.

Additional information

  • Bugzilla 1866560: httpd: Push diary crash on specifically crafted HTTP/2 header
  • CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
  • FAQ: Frequently asked questions about CVE-2020-9490

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
Red HatNVD

CVSS v3 Base Score

7.5

7.5

Attack Vector

Network

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Low

Privileges Required

None

None

User Interaction

None

None

Scope

Unchanged

Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact

None

None

Integrity Impact

None

None

Availability Impact

High

High

CVSS v3 Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

CWE-400

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

If an attacker can trigger the allocation of the limited resources, but the number or size of the resources is not controlled, then the most common result is denial of service. This would prevent valid users from accessing the product, and it could potentially have an impact on the surrounding environment, i.e., the product may slow down, crash due to unhandled errors, or lock out legitimate users. For example, a memory exhaustion attack against an application could slow down the application as well as its host operating system.

Access Control,Other

Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other

In some cases it may be possible to force the product to "fail open" in the event of resource exhaustion. The state of the product -- and possibly the security functionality - may then be compromised.

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank the Apache project for reporting this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

What is a mitigation?

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

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