ABSTRACT

The program calls a method that parses doubles and can cause the thread to hang.

EXPLANATION

There is a vulnerability in implementations ofjava.lang.Double.parseDouble() and related methods that can cause the thread to hang when parsing any number in the range [2^(-1022) - 2^(-1075) : 2^(-1022) - 2^(-1076)]. This defect can be used to execute a DOS (Denial of Service) attack.
Example: Even if the program does not directly use doubles, it may still be vulnerable.


protected void processLocale(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
{
Locale locale = request.getLocale();
if (locale != null)
{
session.setAttribute(Globals.LOCALE_KEY, locale);
}
}

The Apache Tomcat implementation of HttpServletRequest uses parseDouble to validate the locale from the Accept-Language header, which makes any call to getLocale() dangerous.
This is not an issue when using java version 6 Update 24 or later.

REFERENCES

[1] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2004 - (OWASP 2004) A9 Application Denial of Service

[2] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3 - (STIG 3) APP6080 CAT II

[3] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration - (CWE) CWE ID 730

[4] Standards Mapping - Web Application Security Consortium 24 + 2 - (WASC 24 + 2) Denial of Service

[5] Rick Regan Java Hangs When Converting 2.2250738585072012e-308

[6] Oracle Security Alert for CVE-2010-4476

[7] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 1.1 - (PCI 1.1) Requirement 6.5.9