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attack-surface.md

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Attack Surface Analysis for apache/httpcomponents-core

Attack Surface: HTTP Header Injection

  • Description: Attackers inject malicious HTTP headers by manipulating user-controlled input that is improperly handled when constructing HTTP requests or responses using httpcomponents-core APIs.
  • How httpcomponents-core contributes: httpcomponents-core provides APIs like HttpRequest.setHeader() and HttpResponse.setHeader() for setting HTTP headers. If applications directly use these APIs with unsanitized user input, they become vulnerable.
  • Example: An application uses httpcomponents-core to forward requests and sets a custom header based on user input using HttpRequest.setHeader(userInput). An attacker provides input like X-Custom-Header: value\r\nContent-Length: 0\r\n\r\nMalicious Content. This could lead to HTTP Response Splitting if the application then sends this crafted request.
  • Impact: HTTP Response Splitting, HTTP Request Smuggling, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Cache Poisoning.
  • Risk Severity: High
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Input Validation and Sanitization: Before using httpcomponents-core's header setting APIs, rigorously validate and sanitize all user-provided input. Focus on preventing newline characters (\r, \n) and other control characters that can be used for header injection.
    • Use Safe Header Encoding (if available): While httpcomponents-core doesn't offer automatic header value encoding in basic setHeader, ensure that any custom encoding logic applied before using setHeader is robust and prevents injection.
    • Review Header Usage: Carefully review all places in the application code where httpcomponents-core's header manipulation APIs are used and ensure proper input handling is in place.

Attack Surface: HTTP Response Smuggling/Splitting

  • Description: Exploiting potential vulnerabilities in httpcomponents-core's HTTP response parsing logic to inject malicious content or manipulate the HTTP stream. This can lead to misinterpretation of response boundaries by clients or intermediaries.
  • How httpcomponents-core contributes: httpcomponents-core is responsible for parsing HTTP responses received from servers. Bugs or weaknesses in its parsing implementation, especially when dealing with edge cases, malformed responses, or protocol ambiguities, could be exploited.
  • Example: A malicious server sends a crafted HTTP response with ambiguous Content-Length and Transfer-Encoding headers that exploits a parsing flaw in httpcomponents-core. This could cause httpcomponents-core to misinterpret the response boundary, leading to the smuggling of a subsequent, attacker-controlled response.
  • Impact: Bypassing security controls, cache poisoning, XSS, information disclosure, session hijacking.
  • Risk Severity: High
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Keep httpcomponents-core Updated: Immediately apply updates and security patches for httpcomponents-core. Vulnerabilities in HTTP parsing libraries are often targeted, so staying up-to-date is critical.
    • Robust Server-Side Validation (Defense in Depth): While the primary issue is in httpcomponents-core's parsing, implement server-side validation and anomaly detection to identify and reject suspicious or malformed HTTP responses before they are processed by the application using httpcomponents-core.
    • Web Application Firewall (WAF) (Defense in Depth): Deploy a WAF that can inspect HTTP traffic and potentially detect and block response smuggling/splitting attempts, providing an additional layer of security.

Attack Surface: TLS/SSL Configuration Weaknesses

  • Description: Applications using httpcomponents-core are vulnerable if they are configured with weak or insecure TLS/SSL settings, weakening the encryption and allowing for potential Man-in-the-Middle attacks.
  • How httpcomponents-core contributes: httpcomponents-core relies on the underlying Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) for TLS/SSL. The application's configuration of httpcomponents-core's HttpClient (specifically SSLContext and related parameters) directly determines the TLS/SSL security posture. Misconfigurations directly expose vulnerabilities.
  • Example: An application using httpcomponents-core configures an HttpClient to accept any certificate (TrustStrategy.TRUST_ALL_STRATEGY) or uses outdated TLS protocols (like TLS 1.0). This makes the application susceptible to MITM attacks, as it will connect to and trust even malicious servers presenting forged certificates or using weak encryption.
  • Impact: Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks, data breaches, eavesdropping, data manipulation, loss of confidentiality and integrity.
  • Risk Severity: Critical
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Secure TLS/SSL Configuration: Configure httpcomponents-core's HttpClient to use strong TLS/SSL protocols (TLS 1.2 or higher). Explicitly set supported protocols and cipher suites to secure options.
    • Strict Certificate Validation: Ensure proper certificate validation is enabled. Use the default SSLConnectionSocketFactory or customize it to enforce hostname verification and use a trusted TrustManager that validates certificates against a trusted Certificate Authority. Never use TrustStrategy.TRUST_ALL_STRATEGY in production.
    • Disable Weak Cipher Suites: Explicitly disable weak or outdated cipher suites. Configure the SSLContext to only use strong, modern ciphers.
    • Regular Security Audits of TLS Configuration: Periodically review and audit the TLS/SSL configuration of applications using httpcomponents-core to ensure they adhere to security best practices and industry standards.