CVE-2018-1232 in RSA Authentication Agent for Web
Summary
by MITRE
RSA Authentication Agent version 8.0.1 and earlier for Web for both IIS and Apache Web Server are impacted by a stack-based buffer overflow which may occur when handling certain malicious web cookies that have invalid formats. The attacker could exploit this vulnerability to crash the authentication agent and cause a denial-of-service situation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/24/2023
The RSA Authentication Agent represents a critical component in enterprise authentication infrastructure, providing secure multi-factor authentication services for organizations relying on RSA SecurID technology. This vulnerability affects versions 8.0.1 and earlier of the web agent specifically designed for internet information services and apache web servers, indicating a widespread impact across major web hosting platforms. The flaw exists within the cookie handling mechanism of the authentication agent, which processes user session identifiers and authentication tokens sent by web browsers during the authentication process.
The technical exploitation of this stack-based buffer overflow occurs when the authentication agent receives malformed web cookies containing invalid formatting that exceeds the allocated buffer space. This type of vulnerability falls under the common weakness enumeration CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions where insufficient bounds checking allows attackers to overwrite adjacent memory locations. The flaw specifically manifests during the parsing and validation of authentication cookies, where the agent fails to properly validate cookie length and content before copying data into fixed-size memory buffers. When an attacker crafts malicious cookies exceeding the buffer capacity, the overflow can overwrite critical stack memory, potentially corrupting program execution flow and leading to unpredictable behavior.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial-of-service conditions, as it represents a potential pathway for more sophisticated attacks. While the immediate effect is authentication agent crash and service disruption, the underlying buffer overflow condition creates opportunities for memory corruption that could theoretically be leveraged for code execution. The vulnerability affects both iis and apache web servers, indicating that organizations using either platform in their authentication infrastructure face identical risks, regardless of their specific web server implementation. This cross-platform impact suggests the vulnerability stems from the authentication agent's processing logic rather than platform-specific code, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments that may use mixed server configurations.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation through official rsa security patches that address the buffer overflow in the authentication agent's cookie parsing logic. The mitigation strategy must include comprehensive testing of updated agents in staging environments before production deployment to ensure compatibility with existing authentication workflows. System administrators should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unusual authentication agent behavior and cookie processing patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be reviewed to limit potential attack vectors, as this vulnerability could serve as a stepping stone for more comprehensive authentication system compromise. The attack surface for this vulnerability aligns with the attack technique T1212 in the mitre att&ck framework, which covers exploitation of software vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access or disrupt system operations. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block malformed cookie traffic before it reaches the authentication agent, providing an additional layer of defense against this specific class of attack.