CVE-2010-4410 in CGI.pm
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability in the header function in (1) CGI.pm before 3.50 and (2) Simple.pm in CGI::Simple 1.112 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers and conduct HTTP response splitting attacks via vectors related to non-whitespace characters preceded by newline characters, a different vulnerability than CVE-2010-2761 and CVE-2010-3172.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/06/2021
The CVE-2010-4410 vulnerability represents a critical CRLF injection flaw affecting web application frameworks that process HTTP headers through CGI.pm and CGI::Simple libraries. This vulnerability specifically targets the header function in these perl modules, creating a pathway for attackers to manipulate HTTP responses by injecting malicious characters that bypass normal input validation mechanisms. The flaw manifests when non-whitespace characters are preceded by newline characters, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers into the response stream. This vulnerability operates independently from other related issues such as CVE-2010-2761 and CVE-2010-3172, indicating a distinct code path within the header processing logic that was not adequately secured against control character manipulation.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability relies on the fundamental weakness in how these perl modules handle header validation and sanitization. When applications using CGI.pm or CGI::Simple process user input through header functions, the modules fail to properly escape or validate control characters including carriage return and line feed sequences. Attackers can craft malicious input containing newline characters followed by non-whitespace content that gets interpreted as additional HTTP headers during response construction. This creates a condition where an attacker can inject headers such as Set-Cookie, Location, or Content-Type directives that would not normally be permitted, effectively allowing them to manipulate the complete HTTP response structure.
The operational impact of CVE-2010-4410 extends beyond simple header injection to enable sophisticated HTTP response splitting attacks that can compromise user sessions and facilitate various web-based attacks. When successful, attackers can redirect users to malicious websites through Location header injection, set malicious cookies to hijack sessions, or manipulate content type headers to execute cross-site scripting attacks. The vulnerability particularly affects web applications that dynamically generate headers based on user input, making it a significant risk for authentication systems, session management components, and any application that relies on dynamic HTTP header construction. The attack vector is particularly dangerous because it can be executed through seemingly benign input fields that are processed through the vulnerable header functions.
Security professionals should recognize this vulnerability as a variant of CWE-113 - Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers and aligns with ATT&CK techniques related to HTTP response manipulation and session hijacking. The remediation strategy involves upgrading to CGI.pm version 3.50 or later and CGI::Simple version 1.113 or higher where the vulnerable header processing logic has been patched to properly sanitize control characters. Organizations should also implement input validation at multiple layers including application-level sanitization of user input before it reaches the vulnerable header functions, and network-level monitoring to detect anomalous HTTP header patterns. Additionally, implementing proper header generation practices that avoid direct user input processing in header construction and utilizing web application firewalls with signature-based detection for known CRLF injection patterns can provide additional defense in depth measures against exploitation attempts.