CVE-2003-0746 in Openview
Summary
by MITRE
Various Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) implementations, including HP OpenView, allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (process hang or termination) via certain malformed inputs, as triggered by attempted exploits against the vulnerabilities CVE-2003-0352 or CVE-2003-0605, such as the Blaster/MSblast/LovSAN worm.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/15/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2003-0746 represents a significant weakness in distributed computing environments that affects multiple implementations of the Distributed Computing Environment framework. This flaw manifests as a denial of service condition that can cause processes to hang or terminate unexpectedly when processing malformed inputs. The vulnerability specifically impacts systems running DCE implementations including HP OpenView and other similar frameworks that rely on distributed computing protocols for network communication and resource management.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the DCE implementations. When these systems encounter malformed data structures or unexpected input patterns during normal operation or during attempted exploit scenarios, the processing routines fail to handle the exceptional conditions gracefully. This lack of proper error handling and input sanitization creates opportunities for remote attackers to craft specific malicious payloads that trigger buffer overflows, memory corruption, or other processing anomalies that ultimately lead to system instability and service interruption. The vulnerability operates at the protocol level where DCE services communicate across networks, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited without requiring authentication or elevated privileges.
The operational impact of CVE-2003-0746 becomes particularly severe when considering its relationship to other vulnerabilities in the same timeframe. The vulnerability is specifically triggered by attempts to exploit CVE-2003-0352 and CVE-2003-0605, which were prominent Windows vulnerabilities that had already been widely exploited by malware such as the Blaster worm. This means that systems already compromised by the Blaster/MSblast/LovSAN worm would be particularly vulnerable to this additional denial of service condition, creating cascading failures where initially exploited systems become even more unstable and difficult to recover from. The combined effect of these vulnerabilities could result in complete service outages for critical network infrastructure components that rely on DCE for their operation.
Security practitioners should understand that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses issues related to insufficient input validation, and demonstrates the importance of robust error handling in network services. The ATT&CK framework would categorize this as a denial of service technique that can be used to disrupt system availability, potentially as part of a multi-stage attack where initial exploitation is followed by service disruption to prevent detection or remediation. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management programs that address not only the primary vulnerabilities but also their secondary effects, particularly in legacy systems running older DCE implementations. Network segmentation and monitoring should be employed to detect unusual traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, while system administrators should ensure that all DCE implementations are updated to versions that properly validate input data and handle malformed requests without crashing or hanging processes.