angler-fishThe Vulnerability History Project

CVE-2015-6766

The AppCache destructer calls the function OnDestructionImminent() on appcache_update_job.cc to notify any pending cache update jobs. While this is happening, the new_master_entry_url_ of the host is expected to stay the same. But, this variable is susceptible to change with with a compromised renderer, causing the browser to crash.


The mistake that led to the vulnerability seemed to be mainly a design mistake, and also a testing mistake. This is because there should have been a test case that made sure the browser checks whether the new_master_entry_url_ of the host was changing while the browser was finishing up cache update jobs before the cache was deleted.
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CVE: CVE-2015-6766
CWE:
- 416
bugs:
- 551044
repo: 
vccs:
- note: 'They were working to fix something simlilar at that time

    '
  commit: b430eb15fbfe924ab60cd6aabf455e73cc052af4
fixes:
- note: ''
  commit: 2cb006bc9d3ad16353ed49c2b75faea618156d0f
bounty:
  date: '2015-12-01 14:43:00.000000000 -05:00'
  amount: 11337.0
  references:
  - http://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2015/12/stable-channel-update.html
lessons:
  yagni:
    note: 
    applies: 
  question: |
    Are there any common lessons we have learned from class that apply to this
    vulnerability? In other words, could this vulnerability serve as an example
    of one of those lessons?

    Leave "applies" blank or put false if you did not see that lesson (you do
    not need to put a reason). Put "true" if you feel the lesson applies and put
    a quick explanation of how it applies.

    Don't feel the need to claim that ALL of these apply, but it's pretty likely
    that one or two of them apply.

    If you think of another lesson we covered in class that applies here, feel
    free to give it a small name and add one in the same format as these.
  serial_killer:
    note: 
    applies: 
  complex_inputs:
    note: 
    applies: 
  distrust_input:
    note: 
    applies: 
  least_privilege:
    note: 
    applies: 
  native_wrappers:
    note: 
    applies: 
  defense_in_depth:
    note: 
    applies: 
  secure_by_default:
    note: 
    applies: 
  environment_variables:
    note: 'The vulnerability came from environment variables not being zeroed out
      after being freed

      '
    applies: true
  security_by_obscurity:
    note: 
    applies: 
  frameworks_are_optional:
    note: 
    applies: 
reviews:
- 1472943003
- 1418783005
upvotes: 3
mistakes:
  answer: "The mistake that led to the vulnerability seemed to be mainly a design
    mistake, \nand also a testing mistake. This is because there should have been
    a test case\nthat made sure the browser checks whether the new_master_entry_url_
    of the host \nwas changing while the browser was finishing up cache update jobs
    before the cache \nwas deleted.  \n"
  question: |
    In your opinion, after all of this research, what mistakes were made that
    led to this vulnerability? Coding mistakes? Design mistakes?
    Maintainability? Requirements? Miscommunications?

    Look at the CWE entry for this vulnerability and examine the mitigations
    they have written there. Are they doing those? Does the fix look proper?

    Use those questions to inspire your answer. Don't feel obligated to answer
    every one. Write a thoughtful entry here that those ing the software
    engineering industry would find interesting.
announced: '2015-12-05 20:59:03.120000000 -05:00'
subsystem:
  name: AppCache
  answer: 'The bug appeared to be in the AppCache subsystem based on the blogpost

    '
  question: |
    What subsystems was the mistake in?

    Look at the path of the source code files code that were fixed to get
    directory names. Look at comments in the code. Look at the bug reports how
    the bug report was tagged. Examples: "clipboard", "gpu", "ssl", "speech", "renderer"
discovered:
  date: '2015-11-3'
  answer: 'This vulnerability was reported by a google employee by the email: "gzobqq@gmail.com"

    '
  google: true
  contest: false
  question: |
    How was this vulnerability discovered?

    Go to the bug report and read the conversation to find out how this was
    originally found. Answer in longform below in "answer", fill in the date in
    YYYY-MM-DD, and then determine if the vulnerability was found by a Google
    employee (you can tell from their email address). If it's clear that the
    vulenrability was discovered by a contest, fill in the name there.

    The "automated" flag can be true, false, or nil.
    The "google" flag can be true, false, or nil.

    If there is no evidence as to how this vulnerability was found, then you may
    leave the entries blank except for "answer". Write down where you looked in "answer".
  automated: false
description: "The AppCache destructer calls the function OnDestructionImminent() on
  \nappcache_update_job.cc to notify any pending cache update jobs. While \nthis is
  happening, the new_master_entry_url_ of the host is expected to \nstay the same.
  But, this variable is susceptible to change with with a compromised \nrenderer,
  causing the browser to crash. \n"
unit_tested:
  fix: true
  code: true
  answer: |
    From looking at the fix code it's clear that code was tested and they added
    a new test for fixing this vulnerability.
  question: |
    Were automated unit tests involved in this vulnerability?
    Was the original code unit tested, or not unit tested? Did the fix involve
    improving the automated tests?

    For the "code" answer below, look not only at the fix but the surrounding
    code near the fix and determine if and was there were unit tests involved
    for this module.

    For the "fix" answer below, check if the fix for the vulnerability involves
    adding or improving an automated test to ensure this doesn't happen again.
major_events:
  answer: "I did not find any major events in the history of this vulnerability after
    running git \nblame and looking at the git logs.\n"
  events:
  - date: 
    name: 
  - date: 
    name: 
  question: |
    Please record any major events you found in the history of this
    vulnerability. Was the code rewritten at some point? Was a nearby subsystem
    changed? Did the team change?

    The event doesn't need to be directly related to this vulnerability, rather,
    we want to capture what the development team was dealing with at the time.
curation_level: 1
CWE_instructions: |
  Please go to cwe.mitre.org and find the most specific, appropriate CWE entry
  that describes your vulnerability. (Tip: this may not be a good one to start
  with - spend time understanding this vulnerability before making your choice!)
bounty_instructions: |
  If you came across any indications that a bounty was paid out for this
  vulnerability, fill it out here. Or correct it if the information already here
  was wrong. Otherwise, leave it blank.
interesting_commits:
  answer: "I did not find any interesting commits in the history of this vulnerability
    after running git \nblame and looking at the git logs. Between the VCC and the
    fix, I noticed that the fix happened\nvery quickly because the vulnerability was
    was fixed by the same person who discovered and \nreported it.\n"
  commits:
  - note: 
    commit: 
  - note: 
    commit: 
  question: "Are there any interesting commits between your VCC(s) and fix(es)?\n\nWrite
    a brief (under 100 words) description of why you think this commit was\ninteresting
    in light of the lessons learned from this vulnerability. Any\nemerging themes?\n\nIf
    there are no interesting commits, demonstrate that you completed this section
    by explaining \nwhat happened between the VCCs and the fix.\n"
curated_instructions: |
  If you are manually editing this file, then you are "curating" it. Set the
  entry below to "true" as soon as you start. This will enable additional
  integrity checks on this file to make sure you fill everything out properly.
  If you are a student, we cannot accept your work as finished unless curated is
  set to true.
upvotes_instructions: |
  For the first round, ignore this upvotes number.

  For the second round of reviewing, you will be giving a certain amount of
  upvotes to each vulnerability you see. Your peers will tell you how
  interesting they think this vulnerability is, and you'll add that to the
  upvotes score on your branch.
announced_instructions: |
  Was there a date that this vulnerability was announced to the world? You can
  find this in changelogs, blogs, bug reports, or perhaps the CVE date. A good
  source for this is Chrome's Stable Release Channel
  (https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/).
  Please enter your date in YYYY-MM-DD format.
fixes_vcc_instructions: |
  Please put the commit hash in "commit" below (see my example in
  CVE-2011-3092.yml). Fixes and VCCs follow the same format.
description_instructions: |
  You can get an initial description from the CVE entry on cve.mitre.org. These
  descriptions are a fine start, but they can be kind of jargony.

  Rewrite this description in your own words. Make it interesting and easy to
  read to anyone with some programming experience. We can always pull up the NVD
  description later to get more technical.

  Try to still be specific in your description, but remove Chromium-specific
  stuff. Remove references to versions, specific filenames, and other jargon
  that outsiders to Chromium would not understand. Technology like "regular
  expressions" is fine, and security phrases like "invalid write" are fine to
  keep too.

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