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Security Bulletin

MPSB03-07 Security Patch available for ColdFusion MX and JRun 4.0 Web Services DoS

Originally posted: December 9, 2003
Last updated: June 24, 2004

Summary

ColdFusion MX and JRun 4 Web Services may be vulnerable to a Denial-of-Service attack because they use the default Apache Crimson XML parser to process Web Service SOAP requests.

ColdFusion Version 5 and earlier versions do not support Web Services and are not vulnerable.

If using Web Services with ColdFusion MX or JRun 4, this fix should be applied if either:

  • the Web Services are available publicly
  • the Web Services may be accessed by a potential attacker

NOTE:  This fix is NOT required if ColdFusion MX or JRun 4.0 is used only to consume Web Services provided by others.

This fix supplies a replacement Crimson XML parser in crimson.jar. This replacement parser is not vulnerable to the Denial-of-Service attack.

Severity Rating

Macromedia categorizes this issue as a critical update and recommends users immediately patch their ColdFusion MX or JRun 4.0 installation.

Issues

ColdFusion MX 6.1 running in the Java 1.4.2 (or 1.4.1 for HP-UX) runtime environment uses the vulnerable Crimson XML parser included with the Java Runtime Environment.

ColdFusion MX 6.1 for J2EE running in a 3rd-party J2EE server which uses a JRE version 1.4.0 or lower will use the vulnerable Crimson XML parser supplied with ColdFusion MX in crimson.jar.

ColdFusion 6.0 Standalone uses the vulnerable Crimson XML parser supplied with ColdFusion MX in /runtime/lib/jrun.jar. ColdFusion MX 6.0 customers should upgrade to 6.1, then apply the patch.

JRun 4.0 includes the vulnerable Crimson XML parser in /lib/jrun.jar

Affected Software Versions

  • JRun 4.0 (all editions)
  • ColdFusionMX 6.0, 6.1
  • ColdFusionMX 6.0, 6.1 J2EE (all editions)

What Macromedia is Doing

Macromedia has published this bulletin including patches and notified customers using affected versions. 

What Customers Should Do

Download the security update patches from the location specified below

ColdFusion MX 6.0,6.1/JRun 4 Crimson XML parser patch
ColdFusion MX J2EE IBM WebSphere Crimson XML parser patch (Websphere only)

Making the Changes

NOTE: Back up your existing files before making changes.   As always, test the changes in a non-production environment before applying the changes to production servers.

Unzip the patch and replace the Crimson parser (crimson.jar) based on the version and edition of ColdFusion MX and JRun.

ColdFusion MX 6.1 STANDALONE

Add the following JVM initialization options (case-sensitive) to the JVM Arguments in the ColdFusion Administrator "Java and JVM Settings" page. These are added to the end of the existing JVM arguments. JVM arguments are separated by a single space. 

-Djavax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory=com.macromedia.crimson.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl       
-Djavax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory=com.macromedia.crimson.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl
  1. Stop ColdFusion MX
  2. Replace the crimson.jar in the {cf_root}/lib directory with the downloaded replacement crimson.jar
  3. Start ColdFusion MX

ColdFusion MX 6.1 J2EE on OTHER J2EE SERVERS

If the J2EE server runs JRE 1.4.0 or earlier, NO JVM initialization option is needed

  1. Stop ColdFusion MX
  2. Replace the crimson.jar in the {cf_root}/lib directory with the downloaded replacement crimson.jar
  3. Start ColdFusion MX

If the J2EE server runs JRE 1.4.1 or later, JVM initialization options may be needed.

ColdFusion MX uses the default XML SAX parser for your J2EE environment. Usually this is the vulnerable Crimson parser which is in the JRE-supplied jre/lib/rt.jar for JRE version 1.4.1 or higher.

Contact your J2EE vendor to learn if this vulnerability applies to your environment, and for instructions for configuring a non-vulnerable replacement. If no other solution is available from your J2EE vendor, the following steps can be used to protect ColdFusion MX. Note that these steps may interefere with XML processing of other applications running in the same instance with ColdFusion MX.

  1. Stop your J2EE server
  2. Replace the crimson.jar in the {cf_root}/lib directory with the downloaded replacement crimson.jar
  3. Add the following two JVM initialization options (case-sensitive) to the JVM Arguments as documented for your J2EE server. These are added to the end of the existing JVM arguments. JVM arguments are separated by a single space. 
    4. -Djavax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory=com.macromedia.crimson.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl 
-Djavax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory=com.macromedia.crimson.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl
  4. Make sure that the new {cf_root}/lib/crimson.jar is in your CLASSPATH. Check your J2EE documentation to see how to do this for your J2EE server.
  5. Start your J2EE server.

ColdFusion MX 6.0—STANDALONE

  1. Upgrade to ColdFusion 6.1.
  2. Follow the instructions for ColdFusion MX 6.1 STANDALONE above

ColdFusion MX 6.1 with JRun 4.0

Follow the JRun 4.0 instructions for correcting this vulnerability below.

JRun 4.0

  1. Add the following JVM initialization options (case-sensitive) to the VM Arguments in the JRun Management Console "Settings/JVM Settings" page.  These are added to the end of the existing JVM arguments in the jvm.config.  JVM arguments are separated by a single space. 
    2. -Djavax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory=com.macromedia.crimson.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl
-Djavax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory=com.macromedia.crimson.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl
  2. Stop JRun
  3. Place the crimson.jar in the {jrun_root}/servers/lib directory.  
    NOTE:  If the /lib doesn't exist, create it.
  4. Start JRun 

Acknowledgements

Macromedia would like to thank Amit Klein (Amit.Klein@sanctuminc.com) from Sanctum, Inc for reporting this vulnerability and for working with us to help protect our customers from security attacks.

Revisions

June 24, 2004 — Bulletin updated.
December 9, 2003 — Bulletin first created.

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