CVE-2012-6685 in Mac OS X
Summary
by MITRE
Nokogiri before 1.5.4 is vulnerable to XXE attacks
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/12/2022
Nokogiri version 1.5.3 and earlier contains a critical vulnerability that exposes applications to XML External Entity (XXE) attacks, representing a significant security risk for systems processing XML data. This vulnerability stems from the library's insufficient validation of external entity references within XML documents, allowing malicious actors to exploit the parsing mechanism. The flaw specifically affects the XML parser component of Nokogiri, which is widely used across various applications for parsing and manipulating XML content, making the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where XML processing is common.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when Nokogiri processes XML documents containing external entity declarations that reference remote resources or local files. The parser fails to properly sanitize these external references, enabling attackers to construct malicious XML payloads that can cause the application to fetch remote content, access local files, or even perform denial of service attacks through resource exhaustion. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-611, which describes improper restriction of XML external entity reference, and represents a classic example of insecure XML processing that has been documented in numerous security advisories.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it can enable attackers to perform a range of malicious activities including server-side request forgery attacks, local file inclusion exploits, and information disclosure through directory traversal. Applications using vulnerable versions of Nokogiri may inadvertently reveal sensitive system information, process unauthorized network requests, or consume excessive system resources, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The vulnerability affects web applications, APIs, and services that rely on XML parsing functionality, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where XML processing is prevalent.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to Nokogiri version 1.5.4 or later, which includes proper XML external entity validation and mitigation measures. Security teams should conduct comprehensive assessments of all applications utilizing Nokogiri to identify potential attack vectors and ensure proper input validation is implemented. Additional mitigations include configuring XML parsers to disable external entity resolution entirely, implementing proper network segmentation, and monitoring for suspicious XML processing activities. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1213, which covers data from information repositories, and represents a critical weakness in XML processing that requires immediate remediation to prevent potential exploitation by threat actors targeting web applications and API endpoints.