CVE-2003-0778 in SANE
Summary
by MITRE
saned in sane-backends 1.0.7 and earlier, and possibly later versions, does not properly allocate memory in certain cases, which could allow attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/12/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-0778 affects the saned daemon component within the sane-backends package version 1.0.7 and earlier, with potential impacts extending to subsequent releases. This issue resides within the scanner network daemon implementation that facilitates network access to scanner devices through the Simple Network Access Layer protocol. The saned service operates as a server process that listens for incoming connections from client applications seeking to access local scanner hardware over network interfaces, making it a critical component in networked scanning environments.
The core technical flaw manifests in improper memory allocation handling within the saned daemon's processing routines. When the daemon receives specific malformed or crafted input data from network clients, it fails to correctly manage memory resources during data processing operations. This memory allocation deficiency typically occurs during the parsing of scanner device responses or during the handling of network protocol communications. The improper memory management can result in memory leaks, where allocated memory blocks are not properly released back to the system, or in cases where the daemon attempts to allocate memory that exceeds available system resources, leading to resource exhaustion conditions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends significantly in networked environments where saned serves as the primary interface for remote scanner access. Attackers can exploit this weakness by establishing connections to the saned service and sending carefully constructed network requests that trigger the memory allocation flaws. The resulting memory consumption can escalate continuously until system resources are depleted, effectively causing a denial of service condition that renders the scanner service unavailable to legitimate users. This vulnerability particularly affects enterprise environments where centralized scanner services are utilized, as a successful attack can disrupt document management workflows and printing operations across multiple departments.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of array index values, and CWE-772, which covers missing release of resource after effective lifetime. The attack pattern follows the typical denial of service methodology described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the technique T1499.004 for network denial of service. The vulnerability represents a classic resource exhaustion attack vector that does not require authentication, making it particularly dangerous in networked environments where the saned service is accessible to unauthenticated users. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to the saned service and ensure that only trusted networks can reach the scanner daemon ports, typically TCP 6566. Additionally, regular updates to the sane-backends package and monitoring of memory consumption patterns in scanner services provide effective mitigation strategies against this vulnerability.
The broader implications of this vulnerability highlight the importance of proper memory management in network services, particularly those handling untrusted input data from remote clients. System administrators should consider implementing resource limits and monitoring for the saned process to detect anomalous memory usage patterns. The vulnerability underscores the necessity of conducting thorough security reviews of network daemon implementations and emphasizes the critical role of input validation in preventing resource exhaustion attacks. Organizations utilizing scanner network services should prioritize patching this vulnerability and establish monitoring procedures to detect potential exploitation attempts.