CVE-2019-16237
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2019-16237 is an origin validation vulnerability in Dino's Message Archive Management (MAM) implementation that allows attackers to spoof message sources. This enables message manipulation and potential impersonation attacks in XMPP communications. All Dino users before version 0.1.1 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Dino XMPP client
📦 What is this software?
Dino by Dino
Fedora by Fedoraproject
Fedora by Fedoraproject
Fedora by Fedoraproject
Ubuntu Linux by Canonical
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could impersonate legitimate users, manipulate chat histories, and potentially escalate to account takeover if combined with other vulnerabilities.
Likely Case
Message spoofing allowing attackers to send messages appearing to come from other users, potentially enabling social engineering or misinformation attacks.
If Mitigated
With proper message validation and updated software, only authenticated messages from verified sources are accepted.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploit requires ability to send crafted XMPP messages to vulnerable clients. Technical details and proof-of-concept are publicly available in security advisories.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 0.1.1 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://gultsch.de/dino_multiple.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Dino to version 0.1.1 or later using your package manager. 2. For Linux: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade dino. 3. For manual installation: Download from https://github.com/dino/dino/releases. 4. Restart Dino client after update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable MAM functionality
allTemporarily disable Message Archive Management feature to prevent exploitation
In Dino settings: Preferences -> Advanced -> Uncheck 'Enable Message Archive Management'
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Use network segmentation to isolate XMPP traffic and implement strict firewall rules
- Deploy IDS/IPS with rules to detect and block malicious XMPP MAM messages
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Dino version: In Dino client, go to Help -> About. If version is below 0.1.1, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
dino --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 0.1.1 or higher and test MAM functionality with legitimate messages.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected MAM message sources
- MAM requests with mismatched origin headers
- XMPP stanza validation failures
Network Indicators:
- Unusual XMPP MAM traffic patterns
- MAM messages with spoofed 'from' attributes
- XEP-0313 protocol anomalies
SIEM Query:
xmpp_protocol:MAM AND (origin_validation:failed OR source_spoofing:detected)🔗 References
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/12/5
- https://github.com/dino/dino/commit/307f16cc86dd2b95aa02ab8a85110e4a2d5e7363
- https://gultsch.de/dino_multiple.html
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5TMGQ5Q6QMIFG4NVUWMOWW3GIPGWQZVF/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WZBNQAOBWTIOKNO4PIYNX624ACGUXSXQ/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YUBM7GDZBB6MZZALDWYRAPNV6HJNLNMC/
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/31
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4306-1/
- https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4524
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/12/5
- https://github.com/dino/dino/commit/307f16cc86dd2b95aa02ab8a85110e4a2d5e7363
- https://gultsch.de/dino_multiple.html
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5TMGQ5Q6QMIFG4NVUWMOWW3GIPGWQZVF/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WZBNQAOBWTIOKNO4PIYNX624ACGUXSXQ/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YUBM7GDZBB6MZZALDWYRAPNV6HJNLNMC/
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/31
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4306-1/
- https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4524
