CVE-2003-0775 in SANE
Summary
by MITRE
saned in sane-backends 1.0.7 and earlier calls malloc with an arbitrary size value if a connection is dropped before the size value has been sent, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption or crash).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/12/2019
The vulnerability described in CVE-2003-0775 affects the saned daemon component within the sane-backends software suite version 1.0.7 and earlier. This issue resides in the scanner network daemon implementation that handles network connections for scanner devices, making it a critical component in networked scanning environments. The vulnerability specifically impacts systems where the Simple Network Access Layer (SNAL) protocol is used for scanner communication, creating a potential attack surface for remote adversaries seeking to disrupt scanner services. This flaw represents a classic buffer management issue that can be exploited to cause system instability or complete service disruption.
The technical flaw manifests when the saned daemon processes incoming network connections and encounters a scenario where a client disconnects before transmitting the expected data size parameter. Under normal operating conditions, the daemon expects to receive a specific size value before allocating memory for data processing. However, when this connection is abruptly terminated prior to size transmission, the daemon invokes the malloc function with an arbitrary size value derived from malformed or incomplete client input. This improper memory allocation behavior creates a memory management vulnerability that can be systematically exploited by remote attackers to either consume excessive system resources through malformed memory requests or trigger memory corruption that leads to daemon crashes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial of service conditions to potentially compromise entire scanner network services within affected environments. Attackers can leverage this weakness to repeatedly crash the saned daemon, rendering scanner services unavailable to legitimate users and potentially disrupting business operations that depend on networked scanning capabilities. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where multiple scanners are managed through centralized network services, as a successful exploit can cascade into broader service disruptions. From a cybersecurity perspective, this issue aligns with CWE-122, which describes improper restriction of operations within a memory buffer, and represents a form of memory corruption vulnerability that can be classified under the broader ATT&CK technique of service stoppage.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching of affected sane-backends installations to version 1.0.8 or later, which contains the necessary memory management fixes. System administrators should implement network-level monitoring to detect unusual connection patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, while also considering firewall rules that limit access to scanner network services to trusted networks only. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and memory allocation practices in network services, particularly those handling untrusted client data. Organizations should also implement regular security assessments of networked devices and services to identify similar memory management issues in other components of their infrastructure, as this vulnerability type often indicates broader architectural weaknesses in software security design.