CVE-2016-1138 in Home Spot Cube
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability on KDDI HOME SPOT CUBE devices before 2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/11/2018
The CVE-2016-1138 vulnerability represents a critical CRLF injection flaw affecting KDDI HOME SPOT CUBE wireless devices running firmware versions prior to 2. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-113 category for Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers, making it a significant concern for network security and web application integrity. The flaw enables remote attackers to inject malicious HTTP headers into responses generated by the affected devices, potentially leading to various security exploits including cache poisoning, session hijacking, and cross-site scripting attacks. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the device's web interface handling mechanisms, where user-controllable data is directly incorporated into HTTP response headers without proper escaping or filtering.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through unspecified vectors that likely involve manipulating input fields or parameters within the device's web administration interface or API endpoints. Attackers can craft malicious input containing carriage return and line feed characters that, when processed by the vulnerable device, result in the injection of arbitrary HTTP headers into the response. This injection capability allows adversaries to manipulate the HTTP response behavior, potentially redirecting users to malicious sites, stealing session cookies, or injecting malicious content that can be cached by intermediary servers. The impact is particularly concerning given that these devices are typically deployed in residential environments and may be accessible from untrusted networks, providing attackers with potential entry points for broader network compromise.
The operational implications of CVE-2016-1138 extend beyond simple header injection, as it can serve as a foundational exploit for more sophisticated attacks within the ATT&CK framework's initial access and persistence phases. The vulnerability can be leveraged for cache poisoning attacks against web caches and proxies, potentially affecting multiple users who access the device's web interface through shared infrastructure. Network reconnaissance activities can also benefit from this vulnerability, as attackers can use it to gather information about the device configuration or manipulate authentication flows. Additionally, the vulnerability may enable man-in-the-middle attacks when combined with other weaknesses, as the injected headers can be used to modify the behavior of web browsers or proxy servers that process the device's responses. The persistence aspect of this vulnerability means that once exploited, attackers can maintain access through manipulated headers that continue to affect subsequent requests.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-1138 should focus on immediate firmware updates from KDDI to address the root cause of the vulnerability. Organizations should implement network segmentation to isolate these devices from critical internal systems and establish monitoring for suspicious HTTP header patterns in network traffic. Input validation mechanisms should be strengthened at both the device level and network perimeter to prevent CRLF sequences from being processed in HTTP headers. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls with specific rules to detect and block CRLF injection attempts, particularly in HTTP headers. The vulnerability's classification under CWE-113 emphasizes the importance of proper input sanitization and output encoding practices in all web application development processes, making this a critical lesson for organizations in implementing secure coding practices that align with industry standards and best practices.