CVE-2015-7265 in Facebook Proxygen
Summary
by MITRE
Facebook Proxygen before 2015-11-09 mismanages HTTPMessage.request state, which allows remote attackers to conduct hijacking attacks and bypass ACL checks.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/27/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-7265 affects Facebook Proxygen, a high-performance HTTP library developed by Facebook for building HTTP clients and servers. This issue stems from improper management of HTTPMessage.request state within the library's implementation, creating a critical security flaw that can be exploited by remote attackers to conduct session hijacking attacks. The vulnerability specifically impacts systems that rely on Proxygen for handling HTTP communications, potentially compromising the integrity and confidentiality of network traffic.
The technical flaw manifests in the library's failure to properly handle the state transitions of HTTPMessage.request objects, particularly during request processing and response handling. When multiple requests are processed concurrently or when connection reuse occurs, the state management mechanism becomes inconsistent, leading to scenarios where request data can be improperly shared or overwritten between different HTTP transactions. This improper state handling creates opportunities for attackers to manipulate request contexts and potentially gain unauthorized access to resources or data that should be protected by access control lists.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it enables sophisticated hijacking attacks that can compromise entire HTTP sessions. Attackers can exploit the flawed state management to redirect traffic, manipulate request parameters, or bypass authentication mechanisms that depend on proper ACL enforcement. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in environments where Proxygen is used for building web services or APIs, as it can allow unauthorized users to access protected resources or perform actions they should not be permitted to execute. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-362, which describes concurrent execution using shared resource vulnerabilities, and represents a classic case of improper resource management in network protocols.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2015-7265 require immediate patching of affected Proxygen versions with the security fix released on November 9, 2015, which addressed the state management issues in HTTPMessage.request handling. Organizations should also implement additional network monitoring to detect anomalous HTTP traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The fix typically involves correcting the state transition logic and ensuring proper isolation of request contexts during concurrent processing. Security teams should also review their access control configurations and implement additional layers of protection such as request validation, connection pooling restrictions, and comprehensive logging of HTTP transactions. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper state management in network libraries and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers credential harvesting through social engineering, as the hijacking capabilities can lead to unauthorized access to protected resources.