CVE-2001-0313 in Firewall Server
Summary
by MITRE
Borderware Firewall Server 6.1.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a ping to the broadcast address of the public network on which the server is placed, which causes the server to continuously send pings (echo requests) to the network.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/08/2019
The vulnerability described in CVE-2001-0313 represents a significant denial of service weakness in Borderware Firewall Server version 6.1.2 that exploits the protocol handling of internet control message protocol icmp echo requests. This flaw specifically targets the server's response mechanism when processing broadcast ping requests, creating a condition where the firewall becomes overwhelmed with continuous echo request traffic that it cannot properly manage. The vulnerability occurs when an attacker sends a ping packet to the broadcast address of the public network segment where the firewall is deployed, triggering an unintended behavior in the server's network stack processing.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the firewall server's inadequate handling of broadcast address communications within its icmp processing module. When the server receives a ping request directed to a broadcast address, it fails to properly filter or limit the response behavior, causing it to continuously transmit echo requests to all devices on the network segment. This creates a network flooding condition where the firewall itself becomes the source of excessive traffic, consuming network bandwidth and processing resources. The flaw operates at the network protocol level, specifically targeting the icmp protocol implementation and its handling of broadcast addresses.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe risk to network availability and performance as it can effectively render the firewall server incapable of performing its primary security functions. The continuous ping flooding can overwhelm network infrastructure, including switches, routers, and other network devices that must process the excessive traffic. Network administrators may observe degraded performance, intermittent connectivity issues, and potential complete network outages depending on the scale of the attack. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromising the entire network security posture since the firewall becomes unable to properly monitor and filter network traffic.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes unchecked resource consumption as a weakness where systems fail to properly manage resource allocation and can be exhausted by malicious inputs. This flaw also demonstrates characteristics of the ATT&CK technique T1498, specifically the use of network denial of service attacks to disrupt availability. Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including disabling icmp broadcast responses on the firewall, configuring proper access control lists to filter broadcast traffic, and implementing rate limiting mechanisms to prevent excessive icmp processing. The most effective long-term solution involves upgrading to a patched version of the Borderware Firewall Server software that properly handles broadcast address communications and implements appropriate resource management controls to prevent the continuous ping flooding behavior.