Pivotal Spring AMQP Hostname Validation Man-in-the-Middle Vulnerability [CVE-2018-11087]

CVE Number – CVE-2018-11087

A vulnerability in Pivotal Spring Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a man-in-the-middle attack on a targeted system.

The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of hostnames by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by masquerading as a trusted server on the network and conducting a man-in-the-middle attack. A successful exploit could be used to conduct further attacks.

Pivotal Software has confirmed the vulnerability and released software updates.

• To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must be positioned between a Java application that is using the Spring RabbitMQ Java Client and a RabbitMQ server that the application connects to. It is likely that the attacker would need to be on the same trusted, internal network as the two systems. This access requirement may reduce the likelihood of a successful exploit.

• Administrators are advised to apply the appropriate updates.

  Administrators are advised to allow only trusted users to have network access.

  Administrators are advised to run both firewall and antivirus applications to minimize the potential of inbound and outbound threats.

  Administrators may consider using IP-based access control lists (ACLs) to allow only trusted systems to access the affected systems.

  Administrators can help protect affected systems from external attacks by using a solid firewall strategy.

  Administrators are advised to monitor affected systems.

• Pivotal Software has released a vulnerability report at the following link: CVE-2018-11087: RabbitMQ (Spring-AMQP) Host name verification

• Pivotal Software has released software updates at the following link: Spring-AMQP 1.7.10 and 2.0.6
  
  
  
  

Duncan

Duncan is a technology professional with over 20 years experience of working in various IT roles. He has a interest in cyber security, and has a wide range of other skills in radio, electronics and telecommunications.