CVE-2017-16005 in http-signature
Summary
by MITRE
Http-signature is a "Reference implementation of Joyent's HTTP Signature Scheme". In versions <=0.9.11, http-signature signs only the header values, but not the header names. This makes http-signature vulnerable to header forgery. Thus, if an attacker can intercept a request, he can swap header names and change the meaning of the request without changing the signature.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/21/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-16005 affects the http-signature npm package, which serves as a reference implementation of Joyent's HTTP Signature Scheme. This cryptographic signing mechanism is designed to provide authentication and integrity protection for HTTP requests by signing header values. The flaw exists in versions 0.9.11 and earlier, where the implementation fails to include header names in the signature calculation process, creating a critical security weakness that undermines the entire purpose of HTTP signature validation.
The technical flaw stems from an incomplete implementation of the HTTP signature scheme where only header values are hashed and signed while header names remain unprotected. This design oversight creates a scenario where an attacker with interception capabilities can manipulate the HTTP request structure by swapping header names without affecting the signature validity. The signature verification process accepts requests with modified header names as legitimate because the signature was computed without considering header name integrity, effectively breaking the authentication mechanism.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability enables sophisticated header forgery attacks that can have severe consequences for systems relying on HTTP signatures for authentication. An attacker can intercept a legitimate request, modify header names to redirect the request to different endpoints, alter authorization headers, or manipulate other critical request parameters while maintaining the original signature. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where HTTP signatures are used for API authentication, service-to-service communication, or any scenario requiring request integrity verification. The impact extends beyond simple request modification as it can enable privilege escalation, data manipulation, and unauthorized access to protected resources.
The vulnerability maps to CWE-347, which addresses improper verification of cryptographic signatures, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1552.001 for unsecured credentials and T1071.004 for application layer protocol. Organizations should immediately upgrade to http-signature version 0.9.12 or later where header names are properly included in signature calculations. Additional mitigations include implementing network-level protections such as TLS encryption, monitoring for unusual header patterns, and employing additional authentication layers. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of all systems using this library to identify and remediate any potential exploitation attempts, while ensuring that all HTTP signature implementations follow proper cryptographic best practices that include comprehensive header name protection in signature computations.