CVE-2001-0583 in MDaemon
Summary
by MITRE
Alt-N Technologies MDaemon 3.5.4 allows a remote attacker to create a denial of service via the URL request of a MS-DOS device (such as GET /aux) to (1) the Worldclient service at port 3000, or (2) the Webconfig service at port 3001.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/11/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2001-0583 affects Alt-N Technologies MDaemon 3.5.4 email server software, specifically targeting the Worldclient service operating on port 3000 and the Webconfig service operating on port 3001. This issue represents a classic denial of service vulnerability that exploits improper input validation in the web-based administrative interfaces of the MDaemon email server. The flaw stems from the application's inability to properly handle malformed URL requests containing MS-DOS device names such as aux, con, prn, nul, and others. These device names are reserved in the MS-DOS and Windows operating systems for special hardware devices and are typically rejected by modern file systems to prevent conflicts with actual device drivers.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves sending specially crafted HTTP GET requests containing MS-DOS device names as URL paths to the affected services. When the MDaemon server processes these requests through its Worldclient or Webconfig interfaces, the application fails to properly sanitize the input, causing the server to attempt operations on these reserved device names. This results in the server becoming unresponsive or crashing, effectively denying legitimate users access to the web-based administrative interfaces. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be exploited remotely without authentication requirements, making it accessible to any attacker with network access to the target system's ports 3000 and 3001.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability severely compromises the availability of the MDaemon email server's administrative functions, which are critical for system management, configuration changes, and monitoring. Organizations relying on MDaemon for email services face potential business disruption when attackers exploit this vulnerability, as administrators lose access to essential management capabilities. The attack vector is straightforward and requires minimal technical expertise, making it particularly attractive to malicious actors seeking to disrupt email services. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, "Improper Input Validation," and represents a form of resource exhaustion attack that affects service availability rather than data integrity or confidentiality.
The mitigation strategies for this vulnerability include applying the vendor-provided patches or updates that address the input validation flaws in the affected MDaemon versions. Network administrators should also implement firewall rules to restrict access to ports 3000 and 3001 from untrusted networks, as these services are typically intended for internal administrative access only. Additionally, implementing intrusion detection systems that can identify and block requests containing MS-DOS device names in URL paths provides an additional layer of protection. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls to filter out malicious requests before they reach the vulnerable services. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input sanitization and the potential consequences of failing to validate user-supplied data in web applications, as outlined in the ATT&CK framework under the T1499 category for network denial of service attacks.