Overview
Recently, an official security bulletin was released to announce the remediation of an arbitrary file copy vulnerability (CVE-2019-12815) in ProFTPd. This vulnerability lies in the custom SITE CPFR and SITE CPTO operations in the mod_copy module. By issuing the two commands to ProFTPd, an attacker can copy any file on the FTP server without permission.
For details about the vulnerability, please visit the following link:
http://bugs.proftpd.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4372
About ProFTPd
ProFTPd is an open-source and cross-platform FTP server which is compatible with most UNIX-like systems and Windows systems. With more than one million users, ProFTPd is among the most popular FTP servers. The affected mod_copy module is enabled by default on most UNIX distributions (such as Debian).
NSFOCUS’s Alert Level: [Blue]
For the definition of NSFOCUS’s alert levels, see “Description of NSFOCUS’s Security Alert Levels.”
Affected Versions
- ProFTPd <= 1.3.5b
Unaffected Versions
- ProFTPd 1.3.6
Solution
The vendor has released ProFTPd 1.3.6 to fix this vulnerability. Affected users are advised to upgrade as soon as possible.
If users cannot upgrade immediately, they can disable the mod_copy module for temporary protection.
The vulnerable code in ProFTPd 1.3.5 is fixed as follows:
https://github.com/ProFTPd/ProFTPd/pull/816/commits/71cd49ea82313f78d52a52d0c628a3770dc96608
ProFTPd 1.3.6 is available at the following link:
https://github.com/ProFTPd/ProFTPd/releases
Description of NSFOCUS’s Security Alert Levels
| Level | Description | Delivery of Technical Analysis Result | Availability of Detection & Protection Rule Update |
| Red | The vulnerability has an extensive and damaging impact, and is easy to exploit. | Within 12 hours | Within 16 hours |
| Orange | The vulnerability has a comparatively extensive and damaging impact, and is comparatively easy to exploit. | Within 12 hours | Within 16 hours |
| Yellow | The vulnerability has a controllable impact within a controllable scope, and is difficult to exploit. | Within 12 hours | Within 16 hours |
| Blue | The vulnerability has a minor impact within a small scope, and is very difficult to exploit. | – | On a weekly routine |
Statement
This advisory is only used to describe a potential risk. NSFOCUS does not provide any commitment or promise on this advisory. NSFOCUS and the author will not bear any liability for any direct and/or indirect consequences and losses caused by transmitting and/or using this advisory. NSFOCUS reserves all the rights to modify and interpret this advisory. Please include this statement paragraph when reproducing or transferring this advisory. Do not modify this advisory, add/delete any information to/from it, or use this advisory for commercial purposes without permission from NSFOCUS.
About NSFOCUS
NSFOCUS, Inc., a global network and cyber security leader, protects enterprises and carriers from advanced cyber attacks. The company’s Intelligent Hybrid Security strategy utilizes both cloud and on-premises security platforms, built on a foundation of real-time global threat intelligence, to provide multi-layered, unified and dynamic protection against advanced cyber attacks.
NSFOCUS works with Fortune Global 500 companies, including four of the world’s five largest financial institutions, organizations in insurance, retail, healthcare, critical infrastructure industries as well as government agencies. NSFOCUS has technology and channel partners in more than 60 countries, is a member of both the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP), and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).
A wholly owned subsidiary of NSFOCUS Information Technology Co. Ltd., the company has operations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
