CYBSEC - PHPMailer Infinite Loop Denial of Service
CYBSEC S.A.
www.cybsec.com
Advisory Name: PHPMailer Infinite Loop Denial of Service
==============
Vulnerability Class: Denial of Service
====================
Release Date: 05.27.2005
=============
Affected Applications:
======================
* PHPMailer <= 1.72
Affected Platforms:
===================
* Platform-Independent: Tested on Apache 2.0.52 / PHP 4.3.11 & PHP 5.0.4
Local / Remote: Remote
===============
Severity: High
=========
Author: Mariano Nuñez Di Croce
=======
Vendor Status: Notified. No patch available.
==============
Reference to Vulnerability Disclosure Policy:
=============================================
http://www.cybsec.com/vulnerability_policy.pdf
Reference to Original Advisory:
===============================
http://www.cybsec.com/vuln/PHPMailer-DOS.pdf
Overview:
=========
PHPMailer is a PHP class that supports the creation of HTML-based
e-mails, attachments, multiple TOs, CCs, BCCs and REPLY-TOs, SMTP
authentication, etc.
According to the developer, this class has been implemented in the
following Projects: eGroupWare, Mambo Open Source, PostNuke, MyPHPNuke,
Mantis, Moodle, XOOPS, Sourdough, Open Source Suite CRM, Xaraya, Ciao
EmailList Manage, Owl Intranet Knowledgebase, pLiMa (php List Manager),
phplist, Octeth Email Manager Pro, phpwebtools, sendcard and has more
than 100,000 downloads.
A vulnerability has been discovered in PHPMailer that allows an attacker
to raise CPU and memory use to 100% in approximately 20 seconds.
Vulnerability Description:
==========================
The vulnerability specifically exists in the handling of long mail
headers. A header field >= 998 characters (without blanks) will make the
Data() function enter an infinite loop in which new memory keeps being
requested.
The problem exists within the SMTP-Class Data() function defined in
class.smtp.php. Below is the respective code fragment:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
...
...
function Data($msg_data) {
...
...
$field = substr($lines[0],0,strpos($lines[0],":"));
$in_headers = false;
if(!empty($field) && !strstr($field," ")) {
(1) $in_headers = true;
}
(2) $max_line_length = 998; # used below; set here for ease in change
while(list(,$line) = @each($lines)) {
$lines_out = null;
if($line == "" && $in_headers) {
$in_headers = false;
}
# ok we need to break this line up into several
# smaller lines
while(strlen($line) > $max_line_length) {
$pos = strrpos(substr($line,0,$max_line_length)," ");
(3) $lines_out[] = substr($line,0,$pos);
$line = substr($line,$pos + 1);
# if we are processing headers we need to
# add a LWSP-char to the front of the new line
# rfc 822 on long msg headers
if($in_headers) {
(4) $line = "\t" . $line;
}
}
$lines_out[] = $line;
# now send the lines to the server
...
...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When processing the headers, $mail_headers is set to "true" in (1).
Next, line length is limited to 998 characters long in (2). Then, a
substring of $line, from 0 to the value set in $pos, is added to the
$lines_out array in (3). Finally, in (4), if it is processing a header
field, an '\t' is added to the front of $line string.
Now suppose a header field like this is submitted:
From: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... x 998
In the first loop, it will take out the "From:" substring. In the next
iteration, $pos will be set to "", because there are no blanks left in
the string. Therefore, a null string will be added to the $lines_out
array. In the following instruction, $line will be shortened one
character, because it is assigned a substring of itself from the first
character. The problem is that in (4), one new character is added, so
$line will keep being of the same length (> $max_line_length) and the
loop will become endless.
The processing of a malformed request like this one will make the server
rapidly starve memory and processor resources, turning it truly unstable
(probably denying access to other services as well) and a reboot may be
needed to reestablish normal functioning.
Solutions:
==========
Probably, the quickest workaround is to limit the length of the strings
received before appending them to the class variables.
Anyway, a possible workaround is presented below:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
...
...
function Data($msg_data) {
...
...
$field = substr($lines[0],0,strpos($lines[0],":"));
$in_headers = false;
if(!empty($field) && !strstr($field," ")) {
$in_headers = true;
}
$max_line_length = 998; # used below; set here for ease in change
while(list(,$line) = @each($lines)) {
$lines_out = null;
if($line == "" && $in_headers) {
$in_headers = false;
}
# ok we need to break this line up into several
# smaller lines
while(strlen($line) > $max_line_length) {
$pos = strrpos(substr($line,0,$max_line_length)," ");
#-------------- fix --------------------------
if (!$pos) {
$pos = $max_line_length - 1;
}
#---------- end of fix ----------------------
$lines_out[] = substr($line,0,$pos);
$line = substr($line,$pos + 1);
# if we are processing headers we need to
# add a LWSP-char to the front of the new line
# rfc 822 on long msg headers
if($in_headers) {
$line = "\t" . $line;
}
}
$lines_out[] = $line;
# now send the lines to the server
...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vendor Response:
================
Vendor confirmed the vulnerability 2 days after the first contact
and stated that a fix will be available in the next version. He didn't
reply to any further contact or provide information about the project
state.
04.19.2005 - Vendor Notified.
04.21.2005 - Vendor Confirmed Vulnerability.
05.09.2005 - Vendor Contacted - No Reply.
05.18.2005 - Vendor Contacted - No Reply.
05.27.2005 - Vulnerability Public Disclosure
Special Thanks:
===============
Leonardo Cammareri, Leandro Meiners, Juan Pablo Perez Etchegoyen.
Contact Information:
====================
For more information regarding the vulnerability feel free to contact
the author at mnunez {at} cybsec.com.
For more information regarding CYBSEC: www.cybsec.com
(c) 2005 - CYBSEC S.A. Security Systems