Debian DSA-2452-1 : apache2 - insecure default configuration

medium Nessus Plugin ID 58754

Synopsis

The remote Debian host is missing a security-related update.

Description

Niels Heinen noticed a security issue with the default Apache configuration on Debian if certain scripting modules like mod_php or mod_rivet are installed. The problem arises because the directory /usr/share/doc, which is mapped to the URL /doc, may contain example scripts that can be executed by requests to this URL. Although access to the URL /doc is restricted to connections from localhost, this still creates security issues in two specific configurations :

- if some front-end server on the same host forwards connections to an apache2 backend server on the localhost address, or
- if the machine running apache2 is also used for web browsing.

Systems not meeting one of these two conditions are not known to be vulnerable. The actual security impact depends on which packages (and accordingly which example scripts) are installed on the system.
Possible issues include cross site scripting, code execution, or leakage of sensitive data.


This updates removes the problematic configuration sections from the files /etc/apache2/sites-available/default and .../default-ssl. When upgrading, you should not blindly allow dpkg to replace those files, though. Rather you should merge the changes, namely the removal of the'Alias /doc '/usr/share/doc'' line and the related '<Directory '/usr/share/doc/'>' block, into your versions of these config files.
You may also want to check if you have copied these sections to any additional virtual host configurations.

Solution

Upgrade the apache2 packages and adjust the configuration.

For the stable distribution (squeeze), this problem has been fixed in version 2.2.16-6+squeeze7.

See Also

https://packages.debian.org/source/squeeze/apache2

https://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2452

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 58754

File Name: debian_DSA-2452.nasl

Version: 1.15

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 4/16/2012

Updated: 1/11/2021

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.9

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.4

Temporal Score: 3.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:apache2, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:6.0

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/Debian/release, Host/Debian/dpkg-l

Exploit Ease: No exploit is required

Patch Publication Date: 4/15/2012

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2012-0216

BID: 73851

DSA: 2452