CVE-2003-0572 in IRIX
Summary
by MITRE
Unknown vulnerability in nsd in SGI IRIX 6.5.x through 6.5.20f, and possibly earlier versions, allows attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/11/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-0572 represents a denial of service weakness within the nsd daemon on SGI IRIX operating systems spanning versions 6.5.x through 6.5.20f, with potential inclusion of earlier releases. This issue manifests as excessive memory consumption that can ultimately lead to system instability or complete service unavailability. The nsd service, which typically handles name service daemon functionality within the IRIX ecosystem, becomes susceptible to exploitation through malformed or specially crafted network requests that trigger memory allocation patterns leading to resource exhaustion.
This vulnerability operates at the system level within the network services infrastructure, specifically targeting the memory management mechanisms of the nsd process. The flaw allows attackers to consume system resources in a manner that prevents legitimate operations from accessing required memory, effectively creating a resource exhaustion condition that manifests as denial of service. The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes unchecked resource consumption as a fundamental weakness in software design that can lead to system instability and service disruption. The vulnerability operates at the application layer within the network stack, affecting the core service management capabilities of the operating system.
The operational impact of CVE-2003-0572 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the overall system availability and reliability. When exploited, the vulnerability can cause the nsd daemon to consume all available memory resources, forcing the system to either terminate the process or become unresponsive to legitimate network requests. This creates cascading effects throughout the IRIX system as dependent services may fail to operate correctly when the name service daemon becomes unavailable. The vulnerability's potential to affect multiple versions within the 6.5.x release series suggests a systemic issue within the memory management implementation that was not properly addressed during the software development lifecycle.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper resource validation and memory management in system services. The attack vector typically involves sending specially crafted network requests to the nsd daemon that cause it to allocate excessive memory without proper bounds checking or resource limiting mechanisms. This weakness exposes the system to unauthorized users who can exploit the service without requiring elevated privileges, making it particularly dangerous in multi-user environments where system stability is paramount. The vulnerability's classification aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499, which covers resource exhaustion attacks that target system availability by consuming computational resources.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2003-0572 should focus on immediate system hardening measures and long-term architectural improvements. Organizations should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of the affected nsd service to trusted networks only. The most effective immediate solution involves applying vendor patches or upgrading to supported versions of SGI IRIX that contain memory management fixes. System administrators should also configure memory limits and monitoring for the nsd process to detect and prevent abnormal resource consumption patterns. Additionally, implementing intrusion detection systems that can identify suspicious network traffic patterns targeting the nsd service provides an additional layer of protection against exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other system services that may present comparable risks.