CVE-2001-1124 in HP-UX
Summary
by MITRE
rpcbind in HP-UX 11.00, 11.04 and 11.11 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (core dump) via a malformed RPC portmap requests, possibly related to a buffer overflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/27/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2001-1124 affects the rpcbind service running on HP-UX operating systems version 11.00, 11.04, and 11.11. This issue represents a critical security flaw in the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) portmap service that forms the foundation of distributed computing communications within Unix-based systems. The rpcbind service acts as a registry that maps RPC program numbers to network addresses, making it essential for proper system operation and communication between distributed applications. When exploited, this vulnerability can cause the rpcbind process to crash and generate core dump files, effectively rendering the service unavailable to legitimate users.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation within the rpcbind service's handling of malformed RPC portmap requests. Attackers can craft specially crafted RPC requests that contain malformed data structures or buffer contents that exceed expected boundaries. This flaw manifests as a buffer overflow condition where the service fails to properly validate the size and content of incoming requests before processing them. The vulnerability specifically targets the way rpcbind processes portmap requests, which are fundamental to the RPC communication model that allows programs to execute code on remote systems. When the service encounters these malformed requests, it attempts to process them without adequate bounds checking, leading to memory corruption that results in a crash.
The operational impact of CVE-2001-1124 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise system integrity and availability. A successful attack can cause the rpcbind service to terminate unexpectedly, forcing administrators to manually restart the service and potentially disrupting other services that depend on RPC communication. The generation of core dump files consumes system resources and can fill up disk space if multiple attacks occur, creating additional denial of service conditions. Furthermore, the crash behavior may expose system information through core dumps that could aid attackers in developing more sophisticated attacks against the system. This vulnerability particularly affects enterprise environments where HP-UX systems are deployed for critical business applications that rely heavily on RPC services for inter-process communication.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions, and demonstrates how improper input validation can lead to memory corruption vulnerabilities. The attack pattern follows techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1499 category for network denial of service attacks. Organizations running affected HP-UX versions should immediately implement patches provided by HP to address this vulnerability. The recommended mitigation includes applying the official security patches that contain proper input validation and bounds checking for RPC portmap request handling. Additionally, network segmentation and access control measures can help limit the exposure of rpcbind services to untrusted networks, reducing the attack surface for potential exploitation. System administrators should also monitor for unusual patterns of rpcbind service restarts or core dump file generation as potential indicators of exploitation attempts.