CVE-2003-1471 in MDaemon
Summary
by MITRE
MDaemon POP server 6.0.7 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (crash) via a (1) DELE or (2) UIDL with a negative number.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/17/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-1471 affects MDaemon POP server version 6.0.7 and earlier implementations, representing a critical denial of service flaw that can be exploited by authenticated remote attackers. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the server's handling of specific POP commands, specifically the DELE and UIDL commands that are part of the standard POP3 protocol. The flaw occurs when the server processes these commands with negative numeric parameters, which should logically be rejected as invalid input but instead cause the server process to crash and terminate unexpectedly.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the server's failure to properly validate numeric parameters within the POP3 protocol commands. When an authenticated user sends a DELE command with a negative number or a UIDL command with a negative numeric argument, the MDaemon server fails to validate the input and processes the malformed request without proper bounds checking. This lack of input sanitization leads to memory corruption or stack overflow conditions that ultimately result in the server process crashing. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and requires authentication, meaning that an attacker must first establish valid credentials to exploit this flaw, though the impact remains severe as it can disrupt legitimate service availability for all users.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for email server administrators as it allows authenticated attackers to disrupt service availability without requiring elevated privileges beyond standard user accounts. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption since it can affect email delivery and access for legitimate users, potentially causing business disruption and requiring immediate system restoration. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill and can be automated, making it particularly dangerous in environments where email services are critical for business operations. Organizations relying on MDaemon servers for email services face potential reputational damage and operational downtime when this vulnerability is exploited.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of input ranges, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-125, improper initialization of memory, as the negative numbers cause memory access violations. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks, and potentially T1566.001 for initial access through legitimate authentication methods. The flaw represents a classic example of input validation failure that can be mitigated through proper parameter validation and bounds checking. Organizations should immediately apply vendor patches or upgrade to MDaemon versions that address this vulnerability, implement network monitoring to detect suspicious POP3 command patterns, and establish proper access controls to limit authentication opportunities for potential attackers. Additionally, system administrators should consider implementing intrusion detection systems that can identify and alert on malformed POP3 commands that could indicate exploitation attempts.