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The Security Token Service must use the "setCharacterEncodingFilter" filter.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-239672 VCST-67-000021 SV-239672r816741_rule Medium
Description
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 characters into hosted applications in an effort to break out of the document home or root home directory or to bypass security checks. VMware uses the standard Tomcat "SetCharacterEncodingFilter" to provide a layer of defense against character encoding attacks. Filters are Java objects that perform filtering tasks on the request to a resource (a servlet or static content), the response from a resource, or both.
STIG Date
VMware vSphere 6.7 STS Tomcat Security Technical Implementation Guide 2022-01-03

Details

Check Text ( C-42905r816739_chk )
Connect to the PSC, whether external or embedded.

At the command prompt, execute the following command:

# xmllint --format /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/web.xml | sed '2 s/xmlns=".*"//g' | xmllint --xpath '/web-app/filter-mapping/filter-name[text()="setCharacterEncodingFilter"]/parent::filter-mapping' -

Expected result:


setCharacterEncodingFilter
/*


If the output is does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

At the command prompt, execute the following command:

# xmllint --format /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/web.xml | sed '2 s/xmlns=".*"//g' | xmllint --xpath '/web-app/filter/filter-name[text()="setCharacterEncodingFilter"]/parent::filter' -

Expected result:


setCharacterEncodingFilter
org.apache.catalina.filters.SetCharacterEncodingFilter

encoding
UTF-8


ignore
true

true


If the output is does not match the expected result, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-42864r816740_fix)
Connect to the PSC, whether external or embedded.

Navigate to and open /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/web.xml.

Configure the node with the child nodes listed below:


setCharacterEncodingFilter
/*



setCharacterEncodingFilter
org.apache.catalina.filters.SetCharacterEncodingFilter

encoding
UTF-8


ignore
true

true