[jira] [Commented] (FTPSERVER-485) Timing Side Channel PasswordEncryptor

["Yannic Noller (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

    [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FTPSERVER-485?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=16464750#comment-16464750 ] 

Yannic Noller commented on FTPSERVER-485:
-----------------------------------------

Hi,

I checked your solution with the drescribed method PasswordUtil.secureCompare(..) for the proposed locations. For the classes ClearTextPasswordEncryptor and Md5PasswordEncryptor and it looks good.

However, the class *SaltedPasswordEncryptor* still leaks information so I had a deeper look and figured out that the encryption method in SaltedPasswordEncryptor leaks information about the salt. The processing time in this method differs for different salt values.

I opened another bug description because it is actually another issue: FTPSERVER-487

Thanks
 Yannic

> Timing Side Channel PasswordEncryptor
> -------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: FTPSERVER-485
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FTPSERVER-485
>             Project: FtpServer
>          Issue Type: Bug
>          Components: Core
>    Affects Versions: 1.1.1
>         Environment: tested on macOS High Sierra 10.13.4, but it is not relevant
>            Reporter: Yannic Noller
>            Assignee: Jonathan Valliere
>            Priority: Major
>              Labels: easyfix, pull-request-available
>             Fix For: 1.1.2
>
>   Original Estimate: 24h
>  Remaining Estimate: 24h
>
> Dear Apache FTPServer developers,
> We have found a timing side-channel in class org.apache.ftpserver.usermanager.ClearTextPasswordEncryptor, method "public boolean matches(String passwordToCheck, String storedPassword)". This is due to the use of String.equals for comparison which returns as soon as a character does not match. This represents a timing side channel, which could be used by a potential attacker to obtain knowledge about the hidden secret password.
> Do you agree with our findings?
> A similar issue is present in method "matches" from classes org.apache.ftpserver.usermanager.Md5PasswordEncryptor and org.apache.ftpserver.usermanager.SaltedPasswordEncryptor.
> We found these classes in the latest version of your git repo: https://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf?p=mina-ftpserver.git;a=summary
> The problem can be fixed easily by using the following safe version for String comparison in all three methods:
> public boolean isEqual_safe(String a, String b) {
>         char a_value[] = a.toCharArray();
>         char b_value[] = b.toCharArray();
>         boolean unused;
>         boolean matches = true;
>         for (int i = 0; i < a_value.length; i++) {
>             if (i < b_value.length) {
>                 if (a_value[i] != b_value[i]) {
>                     matches = false;
>                 } else {
>                     unused = true;
>                 }
>             } else {
>                 unused = false;
>                 unused = true;
>             }
>         }
>         return matches;
>  }
> Do you agree with our patch proposal?
> Please feel free to contact us for further clarification! You can reach us by the following email address:
> yannic.noller@informatik.hu-berlin.de
> Best regards,
> Yannic Noller



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