CVE-2020-14422
Description
A vulnerability was found in the way the ipaddress python module computes hash values in the IPv4Interface and IPv6Interface classes. This flaw allows an attacker to create many dictionary entries, due to the performance of a dictionary containing the IPv4Interface or IPv6Interface objects, possibly resulting in a denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.
Statement
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux, python3 includes the ipaddress module by default, while for python2 a separate package, python-ipaddress, needs to be installed for the module to be used. Moreover, the ipaddress module is included in other packages as well, like python-pip.
Mitigation
As a short term solution, if your application is using the IPv4Interface/IPv6Interface classes as keys of a dictionary, it is possible to patch the __hash__ method of those classes to not be constant.
IPv4Interface.__hash__ = lambda self: hash((self._ip, self._prefixlen, int(self.network.network_address)))
IPv6Interface.__hash__ = lambda self: hash((self._ip, self._prefixlen, int(self.network.network_address)))
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert: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 Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.9 | 5.9 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | High | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | None | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | None | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | None | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
Attack Complexity (AC) set to High (H) because to trigger this flaw you need an application that uses IPv4Interface/IPv6Interface as a key of a dictionary. The application should handle at least thousands of IPvXInterface objects and the attacker should be able to generate several different IP addresses.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
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.
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