Check Point Advisories

Apache Tomcat URIencoding Directory Traversal (CVE-2007-0450; CVE-2008-2938)

Vulnerability
Protection

Check Point Reference:	CPAI-2007-244
Date Published:	1 Nov 2009
Severity:	High
Last Updated:	Sunday 19 April, 2015
Source:
Industry Reference:	CVE-2007-0450 CVE-2008-2938
Protection Provided by:	Security Gateway R81, R80, R77, R75
Who is Vulnerable?
Vulnerability Description	Apache Tomcat is an implementation of the Java Servlet and JavaServer pages technologies. The software provides the servlet container used in development and deployment of Java based web applications. Users access Tomcat applications using web browsers that communicate to the server via the HTTP protocol. By default configuration, Tomcat listens on TCP port 8080. There exists a directory traversal vulnerability in the Apache Tomcat. The vulnerability is due to an input validation error in Tomcat that does not properly sanitize the URI for the directory traversal patterns. Successful exploitation allows unauthenticated remote attackers to disclose or access arbitrary files on the vulnerable server. The target will not exhibit any unusual behaviour as a result of this attack. A successful attack will allow the attacker to gain access to blocked Tomcat applications. This may lead to disclosure of sensitive information hosted by those applications.

Protection Overview

This protection will detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.Note that in order for this defense to protect your Apache server, you will need to configure port 8080 (which is also the HTTP proxy port) to work with the HTTP protocol. You need to do the following:1. In the Services tree, click on TCP > HTTP_and_HTTPS_proxy. The TCP Service Properties window opens.2. Click on Advanced. Select the Protocol Type: HTTP.

In order for the protection to be activated, update your Security Gateway product to the latest IPS update. For information on how to update IPS, go to SBP-2006-05, click on Protection tab and select the version of your choice.

Security Gateway R80 / R77 / R75

In the IPS tab, click Protections and find the Apache Tomcat URIencoding Directory Traversal protection using the Search tool and Edit the protection's settings.
Install policy on all Security Gateways.

This protection's log will contain the following information:

Attack Name: Apache Server Protection Violation.
Attack Information: Apache Tomcat URIencoding directory traversal