CVE-2000-0204 in OfficeScan
Summary
by MITRE
The Trend Micro OfficeScan client allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service by making 5 connections to port 12345, which raises CPU utilization to 100%.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/22/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2000-0204 affects the Trend Micro OfficeScan client software, representing a classic denial of service flaw that exploits connection handling mechanisms within the security application. This vulnerability specifically targets the client component of the OfficeScan suite, which is designed to provide endpoint protection and security management for enterprise networks. The flaw manifests when an attacker establishes five concurrent connections to the designated port 12345, triggering a condition that causes the client process to consume excessive system resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a weakness in the OfficeScan client's network service handling code, where the application fails to properly manage or limit incoming connections to the vulnerable port. When five connections are established simultaneously, the client's processing logic becomes overwhelmed, leading to a spike in cpu utilization that reaches 100 percent. This condition effectively renders the system unresponsive to legitimate network requests and prevents normal operation of the security client. The vulnerability demonstrates poor resource management practices and inadequate input validation within the network service layer.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to enterprise environments that rely on Trend Micro OfficeScan for endpoint protection. The denial of service condition can disrupt security monitoring capabilities, potentially leaving systems vulnerable to other attacks while the client remains unresponsive. Network administrators may experience service interruptions that affect productivity and require manual intervention to restore normal operations. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper connection limiting and resource allocation in security applications, as these tools are expected to maintain system stability even under adversarial conditions. Organizations using this software would need to implement immediate workarounds or apply vendor patches to prevent exploitation.
The flaw aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes the vulnerability as an "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption" or "Resource Exhaustion" issue. This classification reflects the core problem where the application fails to properly control resource allocation when processing multiple concurrent connections. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability could be categorized under the MITRE ATT&CK technique T1499, which covers "Endpoint Denial of Service" and represents a method where attackers target endpoint systems to disrupt operations. The vulnerability also demonstrates characteristics of privilege escalation and system compromise potential, as a successful attack could potentially be used as a stepping stone for more sophisticated attacks against the compromised system.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate patching from Trend Micro, implementing connection rate limiting on the affected port, and monitoring network traffic for unusual connection patterns. Network segmentation and firewall rules can help restrict access to port 12345, while system monitoring tools should be configured to detect high cpu utilization patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems that can identify and block suspicious connection attempts to the vulnerable port. Additionally, regular vulnerability assessments and security audits should be conducted to identify similar resource exhaustion vulnerabilities in other network services and security applications within the enterprise infrastructure.