tc Server UI must use the setCharacterEncodingFilter filter.

From VMware vRealize Operations Manager 6.x tc Server Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-001310

SV-99649r1_rule tc Server UI must use the setCharacterEncodingFilter filter.

Vulnerability discussion

Invalid user input occurs when a user inserts data or characters into a hosted application's data entry field and the hosted application is unprepared to process that data. This results in unanticipated application behavior, potentially leading to an application compromise. Invalid user input is one of the primary methods employed when attempting to compromise an application. An attacker can also enter Unicode into hosted applications in an effort to break out of the document home or root home directory or to bypass security checks.As a web server, tc Server can be vulnerable to character encoding attacks if steps are not taken to mitigate the threat. VMware utilizes the standard Tomcat “setCharacterEncodingFilter” filter to provide a layer of defense against character encoding attacks. Filters are Java objects that performs filtering tasks on either the request to a resource (a servlet or static content), or on the response from a resource, or both.

Check content

Navigate to and open /usr/lib/vmware-vcops/tomcat-web-app/conf/web.xml. Verify that the 'setCharacterEncodingFilter' has been specified with the following command: grep -B 2 -A 7 setCharacterEncodingFilter /usr/lib/vmware-vcops/tomcat-web-app/conf/web.xml If the “setCharacterEncodingFilter” filter has not been specified or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix text

Navigate to and open /usr/lib/vmware-vcops/tomcat-web-app/conf/web.xml. Configure the node with the node listed below. setCharacterEncodingFilter org.apache.catalina.filters.SetCharacterEncodingFilter encoding UTF-8 ignore false true setCharacterEncodingFilter /*

Pro Tips

Lavender hyperlinks in small type off to the right (of CSS class id, if you view the page source) point to globally unique URIs for each document and item. Copy the link location and paste anywhere you need to talk unambiguously about these things.

You can obtain data about documents and items in other formats. Simply provide an HTTP header Accept: text/turtle or Accept: application/rdf+xml.