CVE-2021-31618

Apache HTTP Server protocol handler for the HTTP/2 protocol checks received request headers against the size limitations as configured for the server and used for the HTTP/1 protocol as well. On violation of these restrictions and HTTP response is sent to the client with a status code indicating why the request was rejected. This rejection response was not fully initialised in the HTTP/2 protocol handler if the offending header was the very first one received or appeared in a a footer. This led to a NULL pointer dereference on initialised memory, crashing reliably the child process. Since such a triggering HTTP/2 request is easy to craft and submit, this can be exploited to DoS the server. This issue affected mod_http2 1.15.17 and Apache HTTP Server version 2.4.47 only. Apache HTTP Server 2.4.47 was never released.

Summary:

Apache HTTP Server protocol handler for the HTTP/2 protocol checks received request headers against the size limitations as configured for the server and used for the HTTP/1 protocol as well. On violation of these restrictions and HTTP response is sent to the client with a status code indicating why the request was rejected. This rejection response was not fully initialised in the HTTP/2 protocol handler if the offending header was the very first one received or appeared in a a footer. This led to a NULL pointer dereference on initialised memory, crashing reliably the child process. Since such a triggering HTTP/2 request is easy to craft and submit, this can be exploited to DoS the server. This issue affected mod_http2 1.15.17 and Apache HTTP Server version 2.4.47 only. Apache HTTP Server 2.4.47 was never released.

Reference Links(if available):

  • http://httpd.apache.org/security/vulnerabilities_24.html
  • https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2021/q2/206
  • https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r783b6558abf3305b17ea462bed4bd66d82866438999bf38cef6d11d1@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
  • https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r14b66ef0f4f569fd515a3f96cd4eb58bd9a8ff525cc326bb0359664f@%3Ccvs.httpd.apache.org%3E
  • http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/06/10/9
  • CVSS Score (if available)

    v2: / MEDIUMAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

    v3: / HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    Links to Exploits(if available)