CVE-2002-1994 in Advanced Web Server Professional
Summary
by MITRE
advserver.exe in Advanced Web Server (AdvServer) Professional 1.030000 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via multiple HTTP requests containing a single carriage return/line feed (CRLF) sequence.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/07/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2002-1994 affects the advanced web server software known as AdvServer Professional version 1.030000. This particular flaw resides within the advserver.exe process which serves as the core component responsible for handling HTTP requests and managing web server operations. The vulnerability manifests as a denial of service condition that can be triggered remotely by malicious actors through carefully crafted HTTP requests, making it a significant security concern for any organization relying on this specific web server implementation.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability involves the improper handling of carriage return line feed sequences within HTTP request parsing. When multiple HTTP requests are sent to the server containing a single CRLF sequence, the advserver.exe process fails to properly process these malformed requests, leading to system instability and eventual service unavailability. This represents a classic input validation flaw where the server does not adequately sanitize or reject malformed HTTP protocol sequences, allowing the attacker to exploit the parsing logic and trigger resource exhaustion or process termination.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates substantial risk for organizations deploying Advanced Web Server Professional 1.030000 in production environments. The remote exploit capability means that attackers do not require physical access or local network presence to initiate the denial of service attack. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as it can potentially disrupt business operations, affect customer access to web applications, and create opportunities for more sophisticated attacks if the server is part of a larger attack chain. This vulnerability directly aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of input boundaries, and represents a form of resource exhaustion attack that can be classified under the MITRE ATT&CK framework as a denial of service technique.
The mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patching of the affected software version to address the input validation flaws in the HTTP request processing. Organizations should also implement network-level protections such as intrusion detection systems that can identify and block malformed HTTP requests containing suspicious CRLF sequences. Additionally, deploying web application firewalls and implementing request rate limiting can help reduce the impact of such attacks while awaiting official patches. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input sanitization and protocol compliance in web server implementations, reinforcing industry best practices for secure coding and the necessity of regular security updates to address known vulnerabilities in server software components.