CVE-2003-1590 in One Web Server
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Sun ONE (aka iPlanet) Web Server 6.0 SP3 through SP5 on Windows allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/01/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-1590 affects the Sun ONE Web Server version 6.0 SP3 through SP5 running on Windows operating systems. This unspecified weakness represents a critical security flaw that enables remote attackers to trigger a denial of service condition by causing the web server daemon to crash unexpectedly. The vulnerability exists within the iPlanet web server implementation and specifically impacts the Windows deployment variant of the Sun ONE platform. The affected versions demonstrate a lack of proper input validation or error handling mechanisms that allow malicious actors to exploit the system through unspecified attack vectors.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient robustness in the web server's processing logic, where malformed or specially crafted requests can cause the daemon process to terminate abruptly. This type of flaw typically indicates a weakness in the server's resource management or protocol handling capabilities. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited remotely without requiring authentication or privileged access. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that multiple pathways exist for exploitation, potentially including malformed HTTP requests, unusual parameter combinations, or other protocol violations that cause the server to enter an unstable state.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption as it can lead to complete unavailability of web services hosted on the affected server. When the daemon crashes, all active connections are terminated and the server becomes inaccessible to legitimate users until manual intervention or automatic restart occurs. This creates a significant business impact particularly for organizations relying on continuous web services. The vulnerability affects the availability aspect of the CIA triad and can be classified under CWE-119 as improper access to memory or CWE-770 as allocation of resources without limits or checks. Organizations may experience service interruptions, potential data loss, and reputational damage when such denial of service conditions occur.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patch application as provided by Sun Microsystems for the affected versions of the Sun ONE Web Server. System administrators should implement network-level protections such as intrusion detection systems and firewalls to monitor for suspicious traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, deploying application-level firewalls or web application firewalls can help filter malicious requests before they reach the vulnerable server. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1499.004 for Network Denial of Service and T1071.004 for Application Layer Protocol to identify and prevent exploitation attempts. Organizations should also implement proper monitoring and alerting mechanisms to detect daemon crashes and automatically initiate recovery procedures. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other web server implementations and ensure comprehensive protection against similar denial of service attacks.