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SwiftD
Asked: 2013-08-24 02:18:26 +0800 CST

How to apply security update to apache

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I have been running some penetration tests against our webserver and it's come up with a few issues. One of them is that apache needs a security update (http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-1765-1/).

I am running ubuntu 12.04 LTS and the instructions on that page suggest that running

apt-get update

followed by

apt-get upgrade

will solve the issue, unfortunately I am told there are no packages to update. I tried downloading the tarball from the link but now that I've unzipped I'm not really sure what to do with it.

Searching google seems to bombard with instruction on how to install apache but if anyone knows of a guide that would be great. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Output of apt-cache policy apache2:

apache2:
  Installed: 2.2.22-1ubuntu1.4
  Candidate: 2.2.22-1ubuntu1.4
  Version table:
 *** 2.2.22-1ubuntu1.4 0
        500 http://mirror.rackspace.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://mirror.rackspace.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.2.22-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://mirror.rackspace.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

Output of dpkg -l apache*

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version        Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
un  apache         <none>         (no description available)
un  apache-common  <none>         (no description available)
un  apache-utils   <none>         (no description available)
ii  apache2        2.2.22-1ubuntu Apache HTTP Server metapackage
un  apache2-common <none>         (no description available)
un  apache2-doc    <none>         (no description available)
un  apache2-mpm    <none>         (no description available)
un  apache2-mpm-ev <none>         (no description available)
un  apache2-mpm-it <none>         (no description available)
ii  apache2-mpm-pr 2.2.22-1ubuntu Apache HTTP Server - traditional non-threade
un  apache2-mpm-wo <none>         (no description available)
un  apache2-suexec <none>         (no description available)
un  apache2-suexec <none>         (no description available)
ii  apache2-utils  2.2.22-1ubuntu utility programs for webservers
ii  apache2.2-bin  2.2.22-1ubuntu Apache HTTP Server common binary files
ii  apache2.2-comm 2.2.22-1ubuntu Apache HTTP Server common files

Here are the contents of the penetration test highlighting the issue:

    Apache Partial HTTP Request Denial of Service Vulnerability - Zero Day  


QID:
    86847
Category:
    Web server
CVE ID:
    -
Vendor Reference
    -
Bugtraq ID:
    -
Service Modified:
    05/30/2013
User Modified:
    -
Edited:
    No
PCI Vuln:
    No

THREAT:
    The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache is a freely available Web server.

    Apache is vulnerable to a denial of service due to holding a connection open for partial HTTP requests.

    Apache Versions 1.x and 2.x are vulnerable.
IMPACT:
    A remote attacker can cause a denial of service against the Web server which would prevent legitimate users from accessing the site.

    Denial of service tools and scripts such as Slowloris takes advantage of this vulnerability.
SOLUTION:
    Patch -
    There are no vendor-supplied patches available at this time.

    Workaround:
    - Reverse proxies, load balancers and iptables can help to prevent this attack from occurring.

    - Adjusting the TimeOut Directive can also prevent this attack from occurring.

    - A new module mod_reqtimeout has been introduced since Apache 2.2.15 to provide tools for mitigation against these forms of attack.

    Also refer to Cert Blog and Slowloris and Mitigations for Apache document for further information.
COMPLIANCE:
    Not Applicable
EXPLOITABILITY:
    There is no exploitability information for this vulnerability.
ASSOCIATED MALWARE:
    There is no malware information for this vulnerability.
RESULTS:
    QID: 86847 detected on port 80 over TCP - Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)


3
    Apache HTTP Server Prior to 2.2.23 Multiple Vulnerabilities     


QID:
    87133
Category:
    Web server
CVE ID:
    CVE-2012-2687 CVE-2012-0883 
Vendor Reference
    Apache
Bugtraq ID:
    53046, 55131
Service Modified:
    01/02/2013
User Modified:
    -
Edited:
    No
PCI Vuln:
    Yes

THREAT:
    Apache HTTP Server is an HTTP web server application.

    Apache server prior to version 2.2.23 is affected by multiple issues:

    Insecure LD_LIBRARY_PATH handling

    Cross-site scripting in mod_negotiation when untrusted uploads are supported Affected Versions:
    Apache HTTP Server prior to version 2.2.23
IMPACT:
    Successful exploitation may lead to execution of arbitrary code on the system within the context of the affected applications.

SOLUTION:
    These vulnerabilities have been patched in Apache 2.2.23. Refer to Apache httpd 2.2 Security Vulnerabilities.

    Patch:
    Following are links for downloading patches to fix the vulnerabilities:

    Apache 2.2.23 (Apache HTTP Server)
COMPLIANCE:
    Not Applicable
EXPLOITABILITY:
    There is no exploitability information for this vulnerability.
ASSOCIATED MALWARE:
    There is no malware information for this vulnerability.
RESULTS:
    QID 87133 detected on port 80 - Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)


3
    Apache Prior to 2.4.4 and 2.2.24 Multiple Vulnerabilities   port 80/tcp


QID:
    87156
Category:
    Web server
CVE ID:
    CVE-2012-3499 CVE-2012-4558 
Vendor Reference
    Apache httpd 2.2 Vulnerabilities, Apache httpd 2.4 Vulnerabilities
Bugtraq ID:
    58165
Service Modified:
    05/22/2013
User Modified:
    -
Edited:
    No
PCI Vuln:
    Yes

THREAT:
    Apache HTTP Server is an HTTP web server application.

    Apache HTTP Server is prone to multiple cross-site scripting vulnerabilities because it fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input.

    - Various XSS flaws exist due to unescaped hostnames and URIs HTML output in mod_info, mod_status, mod_imagemap, mod_ldap, and mod_proxy_ftp.

    - A XSS flaw affects the mod_proxy_balancer manager interface.

    Affected Versions:
    Apache HTTP Server prior to 2.4.4
    Apache HTTP Server prior to 2.2.24
IMPACT:
    An attacker may leverage these issues to execute arbitrary HTML and script code in the browser of an unsuspecting user in the context of the affected site. This may let the attacker launch additional attacks. 
SOLUTION:
    These vulnerabilities have been patched in Apache 2.2.24 and 2.4.4. Refer to Apache httpd 2.4.4 Changelog and Apache httpd 2.2.24 Changelog.

    Ubuntu users refer to Ubuntu advisory USN-1765-1 for affected packages and patching details, or update with your package manager.

    Patch:
    Following are links for downloading patches to fix the vulnerabilities:

    Apache 2.2.24 (Apache HTTP Server 2.2.24)

    Apache 2.4.4 (Apache HTTP Server 2.4.4)
COMPLIANCE:
    Not Applicable
EXPLOITABILITY:
    There is no exploitability information for this vulnerability.
ASSOCIATED MALWARE:
    There is no malware information for this vulnerability.
RESULTS:
    QID 87156 detected on port 80 - Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)


3
    Apache HTTP Server Prior to 2.2.25 Multiple Vulnerabilities     port 80/tcp


QID:
    87233
Category:
    Web server
CVE ID:
    CVE-2013-1896 CVE-2013-1862 
Vendor Reference
    Apache 2.2.25
Bugtraq ID:
    -
Service Modified:
    07/15/2013
User Modified:
    -
Edited:
    No
PCI Vuln:
    Yes

THREAT:
    Apache HTTP Server is an HTTP web server application.

    Apache HTTP Server versons before to 2.2.25 are exposed to following vulnerabilities: mod_rewrite.c in the mod_rewrite module in the Apache HTTP Server 2.2.x before 2.2.25 writes data to a log file without sanitizing non-printable characters, which might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via an HTTP request containing an escape sequence for a terminal emulator (CVE-2013-1862).
    mod_dav.c in the Apache HTTP Server versions before 2.2.25 do not properly determine whether DAV is enabled for a URI, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (segmentation fault) via a MERGE request in which the URI is configured for handling by the mod_dav_svn module, but a certain href attribute in XML data refers to a non-DAV URI (CVE-2013-1896).
IMPACT:
    Successfully exploiting these vulnerabilities might allow a remote attacker to execute code or cause denial of service.
SOLUTION:
    These vulnerabilities have been patched in Apache 2.2.25. Refer to Apache httpd 2.2.25 Changelog.

    Patch:
    Following are links for downloading patches to fix the vulnerabilities:

    Apache 2.2.25
COMPLIANCE:
    Not Applicable
EXPLOITABILITY:
    There is no exploitability information for this vulnerability.
ASSOCIATED MALWARE:
    There is no malware information for this vulnerability.
RESULTS:
    QID 87233 detected on port 80 - Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)
ubuntu

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Firstly a big thank you to those who helped me get to the bottom of this. For anyone interested, it seems this patch had indeed already been applied. I got the full version of apache including ubuntu versioning using the following command:

    dpkg -l apache2 | grep 2.22

    obviously if following this grep for the version number you are dealing with. Any way in short I am running Apache 2.2.22-1ubuntu1.4 and the patches required are already applied in this version. it appears that the penetration software was just looking at the basic apache versioning without taking into account the ubuntu bug fixes.

    Hopefully something here will stop someone else wasting half a day of their life.

    • 2