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Message-ID: <3216678.480631285866153616.JavaMail.jira@thor>
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2010 13:02:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Kevin W. Wall (JIRA)" <dev@myfaces.apache.org>
To: dev@myfaces.apache.org
Subject: [jira] Created: (MYFACES-2934) Side-channel timing attack in
 StateUtils class may still allow padding oracle attack
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Side-channel timing attack in StateUtils class may still allow padding oracle attack
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                 Key: MYFACES-2934
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MYFACES-2934
             Project: MyFaces Core
          Issue Type: Bug
    Affects Versions: 1.2.9
         Environment: All using MyFaces 1.2.9
            Reporter: Kevin W. Wall


[FYI: I'm the person who fixed the padding oracle attack in ESAPI 2.0-rc# crypto which is why I spotted this.]

I did a quick code inspection of encrypt() / decrypt() methods in org.apache.myfaces.shared_impl.util.StateUtils as it relates to the fix for MYFACES-2749.  Most everything is done correct (MAC is over IV+ciphertext and checked before decryption), but I noticed a subtle flaw that, at least in theory (or enough data gathering and statistical analysis), that opens a side-channel timing attack that might be still be used as a oracle in a padded oracle attack such as described by Duong and Rizzo.

The problem is in the 'for' loop at lines 471-478 in StateUtils.java. You need to compare ALWAYS compare ALL the bytes in the MAC to ensure a timing side-channel attack cannot be used to as an oracle in the padding oracle attack.

Contact me at kevin.w.wall@gmail.com if you need more info or want to see how it was fixed in OWASP ESAPI.

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