CVE-2016-2303 in IntegraXor
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability in Ecava IntegraXor before 5.0 build 4522 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers and conduct HTTP response splitting attacks via a crafted URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/19/2018
The CVE-2016-2303 vulnerability represents a critical CRLF injection flaw in Ecava IntegraXor software prior to version 5.0 build 4522. This vulnerability resides in the application's handling of user-supplied input within URL parameters, where insufficient validation allows malicious actors to inject carriage return line feed sequences that can manipulate HTTP headers. The flaw enables attackers to insert arbitrary HTTP headers into responses, fundamentally compromising the integrity of HTTP communication between client and server. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-113, which specifically addresses improper neutralization of CRLF characters in HTTP headers, making it a direct descendant of the well-known HTTP response splitting attack vector.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the lack of proper input sanitization within the URL parsing mechanism of the IntegraXor application. When a user submits a crafted URL containing CRLF sequences, the application fails to properly escape or filter these characters before incorporating them into HTTP response headers. This allows attackers to inject malicious headers such as Set-Cookie, Location, or Content-Type directives, effectively enabling a range of malicious activities including session hijacking, cross-site scripting attacks, and cache poisoning. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the HTTP protocol level, making it difficult to detect through standard application-level security controls and potentially bypassing traditional web application firewalls.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple header injection, as it creates a foundation for more sophisticated attacks that can compromise user sessions and manipulate web application behavior. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to redirect users to malicious websites through Location header injection, set persistent cookies that maintain unauthorized access, or manipulate content negotiation through Content-Type header manipulation. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, specifically targeting the initial access phase through malicious web content, and can be combined with other techniques such as T1190 for exploitation of web applications. The vulnerability's remote nature means that attackers do not require physical access or local privileges, making it particularly dangerous for web-facing applications that process user input directly.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-2303 should focus on implementing robust input validation and sanitization mechanisms within the application's URL processing components. Organizations should immediately upgrade to Ecava IntegraXor version 5.0 build 4522 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the CRLF injection vulnerability. Additionally, implementing proper header validation at the application level, including the removal or encoding of CRLF characters from user-supplied input, provides defense-in-depth protection against similar vulnerabilities. Network-based mitigations such as web application firewalls with signature-based detection for CRLF injection patterns can provide additional protection, though these should not replace proper application-level fixes. Regular security assessments and input validation testing should be conducted to ensure that similar vulnerabilities do not exist in other components of the web application stack, particularly in areas where user input is processed and incorporated into HTTP responses.