CVE-2024-55354: Protection Mechanism Failure in Lucee Leading to Unauthorized Code Execution and Data Access

Overview

CVE-2024-55354 is a critical vulnerability affecting Lucee versions before 5.4.7.3 LTS and 6 before 6.1.1.118. This security flaw, if exploited, could lead to the execution of unauthorized code and unauthorized access to protected resources. Given the widespread use of Lucee in web infrastructure, the vulnerability has the potential to wreak havoc on unpatched systems, leading to system compromise and potential data leakage.
This blog post aims to provide an in-depth look at this vulnerability, detailing its nature, its potential impact, and the steps necessary to mitigate it. Due to its severity and potential for damage, it is crucial for all relevant parties to understand this vulnerability and act swiftly to address it.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2024-55354
Severity: High (8.8 CVSS score)
Attack Vector: File Upload
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Unauthorized code execution, unauthorized access to protected resources, potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Lucee | < 5.4.7.3 LTS Lucee | < 6.1.1.118 How the Exploit Works

CVE-2024-55354 is a protection mechanism failure vulnerability. If an attacker can successfully upload files to the server running vulnerable versions of Lucee, they could exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability allows the attacker to run code that should be blocked by Lucee’s protection mechanisms and access resources that should be protected. This could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data or even the compromise of the entire system.

Conceptual Example Code

The conceptual exploit code might look something like this:

POST /file_upload HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="exploit.jsp"
Content-Type: text/plain
<%-- malicious JSP code here --%>
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW--

This is a conceptual example of how an attacker might upload a malicious JSP file to the vulnerable server. The malicious JSP file would contain the code that the attacker wants to execute on the server.

Mitigation Guidance

To mitigate the risk associated with this vulnerability, users should immediately apply the vendor-provided patch to update Lucee to versions 5.4.7.3 LTS or 6.1.1.118, which are not affected by this vulnerability. If applying the patch is not immediately possible, users may consider using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary measure to prevent the exploitation of this vulnerability. However, these are merely stop-gap solutions, and the ultimate resolution is to update the affected software.