CVE-2008-3170 in Safari
Summary
by MITRE
Apple Safari allows web sites to set cookies for country-specific top-level domains, such as co.uk and com.au, which could allow remote attackers to perform a session fixation attack and hijack a user s HTTP session, aka "Cross-Site Cooking," a related issue to CVE-2004-0746, CVE-2004-0866, and CVE-2004-0867.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/15/2019
The vulnerability described in CVE-2008-3170 represents a significant security flaw in Apple Safari browser's cookie handling mechanism that enables cross-site cookie manipulation. This issue specifically affects how Safari processes cookies for country-specific top-level domains such as .co.uk and .com.au, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit session management weaknesses. The vulnerability operates under the nickname "Cross-Site Cooking" and constitutes a related security concern to previously identified issues including CVE-2004-0746, CVE-2004-0866, and CVE-2004-0867, which collectively highlight persistent problems in web browser cookie security implementations.
The technical flaw stems from Safari's improper validation of cookie domain attributes when dealing with internationalized top-level domains. Normally, cookies should only be set for the exact domain that requested them, but Safari's implementation allowed web sites to set cookies for broader domain categories including country-specific TLDs. This behavior violates fundamental security principles of domain isolation and cookie security policies. When a user visits a website, the browser typically restricts cookie setting to the originating domain, but this vulnerability enabled attackers to set cookies for domains like .co.uk that encompass multiple websites, effectively allowing them to manipulate session identifiers across different sites within the same country domain.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial as it enables session fixation attacks where attackers can hijack user sessions by setting malicious cookies that persist across different websites within the same country domain. An attacker could potentially set a cookie on a legitimate website and then use that cookie to gain unauthorized access to user sessions, particularly when users navigate between different sites within the same TLD category. This creates a dangerous scenario where session tokens can be manipulated without proper authentication, allowing attackers to impersonate users and potentially access sensitive information or perform unauthorized actions on behalf of victims.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-200 (Information Exposure) and CWE-310 (Cryptographic Issues) classifications within the Common Weakness Enumeration framework, as it exposes session information and potentially weakens cryptographic session management. From the MITRE ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1566 (Phishing) and T1071.001 (Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols) as attackers could leverage this weakness in phishing campaigns or web-based attacks. The vulnerability also relates to T1185 (Man in the Middle) as it enables attackers to manipulate session tokens in transit or at rest.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability include implementing proper cookie domain validation that strictly enforces domain boundaries, ensuring that cookies can only be set for the exact domain that requested them rather than allowing broader domain categories. Browser vendors should enforce stricter adherence to RFC 2109 and RFC 2965 cookie specifications, which mandate that cookies be restricted to the domain that set them. Additionally, implementing SameSite cookie attributes and ensuring proper secure flag enforcement can significantly reduce the attack surface. Users should be educated about the risks of visiting untrusted websites and the importance of regularly clearing browser cookies and maintaining updated browser versions to protect against such vulnerabilities.