CVE-2003-0231 in SQL Server
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft SQL Server 7, 2000, and MSDE allows local or remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (crash or hang) via a long request to a named pipe.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/01/2025
Microsoft SQL Server versions 7.0, 2000, and MSDE contain a vulnerability that enables authenticated local or remote attackers to induce a denial of service condition through the exploitation of improper input validation in the named pipe communication mechanism. This flaw exists within the server's handling of excessively long requests transmitted through named pipes, which are used for client-server communication in the database system. The vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking and buffer management when processing incoming data through these communication channels.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the server's failure to properly validate the length of data received through named pipe connections. When an attacker sends a malformed request containing an abnormally long payload to a named pipe endpoint, the SQL Server process attempts to process this data without adequate size restrictions. This leads to buffer overflow conditions or memory corruption scenarios that ultimately cause the database service to crash or become unresponsive, effectively rendering the system unavailable to legitimate users. The vulnerability affects both local and remote authenticated access paths, meaning that any user with valid credentials can potentially exploit this weakness regardless of their physical location relative to the target system.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability represents a significant threat to database availability and business continuity. The denial of service condition can result in complete system unavailability for database operations, requiring manual intervention to restart the SQL Server service and potentially causing data access disruptions for applications dependent on the database. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as the crash may occur at critical moments during transaction processing or data access operations, leading to potential data inconsistencies or loss of ongoing operations. Organizations relying on these older SQL Server versions face particular risk given the extended support lifecycle for these products.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes the weakness of stack-based buffer overflow, and relates to the broader category of input validation failures that commonly lead to denial of service conditions in network services. From an attack methodology standpoint, this vulnerability maps to techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1499 category of Network Denial of Service, specifically targeting service availability through the exploitation of communication protocols. The attack requires minimal privileges since it only necessitates authentication to the SQL Server instance, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by users with legitimate access rights. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying available security patches, configuring network restrictions to limit named pipe access, and implementing monitoring solutions to detect anomalous request patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts.