CVE-2001-0394 in Website Pro
Summary
by MITRE
Remote manager service in Website Pro 3.0.37 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a series of malformed HTTP requests to the /dyn directory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/08/2019
The vulnerability described in CVE-2001-0394 represents a classic denial of service flaw affecting the remote manager service component of Website Pro 3.0.37 software. This particular issue manifests through the exploitation of the application's handling of HTTP requests directed toward the /dyn directory, which serves as a dynamic content processing endpoint within the web application framework. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and error handling mechanisms within the service's HTTP request processing pipeline, creating an avenue for malicious actors to disrupt legitimate service operations.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and CWE-400, which covers unchecked resource consumption. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting and sending a sequence of malformed HTTP requests to the targeted /dyn directory, causing the remote manager service to enter an unstable state or crash entirely. The service's failure to properly validate or sanitize incoming HTTP request parameters allows the malformed requests to trigger unexpected behavior in the application's processing logic, ultimately leading to service disruption. This type of attack represents a form of resource exhaustion or state corruption that prevents the system from properly handling legitimate requests.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service interruption, as it can effectively render the entire Website Pro application unavailable to legitimate users. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this weakness from anywhere on the network without requiring local system access or authentication credentials. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in production environments where availability is critical for business operations. The denial of service condition can persist until the affected service is manually restarted or the system is rebooted, potentially causing significant downtime and loss of productivity for organizations relying on the platform.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing proper input validation and request sanitization measures within the web application's HTTP processing layer. Organizations should consider applying the vendor-provided security patches or updates that address this specific flaw in Website Pro 3.0.37. Network-level protections such as intrusion prevention systems and web application firewalls can help detect and block malformed HTTP requests before they reach the vulnerable service. Additionally, implementing rate limiting and connection throttling mechanisms can help prevent abuse of the /dyn directory endpoint. The remediation approach should also include monitoring for unusual patterns of HTTP requests targeting the affected directory and establishing proper error handling procedures to prevent service crashes from malformed input. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input validation practices and proper error handling in web applications, as outlined in the software security principles documented in the OWASP Top Ten and MITRE ATT&CK framework's defense evasion techniques.