CVE-2004-0633 in Ethereal
Summary
by MITRE
The iSNS dissector for Ethereal 0.10.3 through 0.10.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (process abort) via an integer overflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/20/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-0633 represents a critical integer overflow flaw within the iSNS dissector component of Ethereal network protocol analyzer version 0.10.3 through 0.10.4. This issue specifically targets the iSNS protocol dissector which is responsible for analyzing Internet Storage Name Service traffic within network captures. The integer overflow occurs when processing malformed iSNS packets that contain excessively large integer values in their headers or data fields, causing the dissector to miscalculate buffer sizes or loop counters during packet analysis operations.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability manifests through a remote attacker who crafts specially malformed iSNS packets designed to trigger the integer overflow condition. When Ethereal processes these malicious packets through its iSNS dissector, the overflow causes the application to behave unpredictably, ultimately resulting in a process abort or crash. This denial of service condition effectively renders the network monitoring capabilities of Ethereal unavailable until the application is manually restarted, creating significant operational disruption for network administrators who rely on continuous monitoring of storage network traffic.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service interruption as it affects the reliability and availability of network analysis tools critical for storage network management. Network administrators utilizing Ethereal for monitoring iSNS traffic across storage area networks face potential security risks when the application crashes, as this could occur during critical network monitoring periods or incident response activities. The vulnerability particularly affects environments where iSNS protocol traffic is prevalent, such as enterprise storage networks using Fibre Channel or IP-based storage solutions where iSNS serves as the name service for storage devices.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-190, which specifically addresses integer overflow conditions that can lead to memory corruption and application instability. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this issue under the T1499.004 technique for network denial of service, as it specifically targets network monitoring tools to disrupt their availability. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of input validation in protocol dissectors, as the lack of proper bounds checking on integer values in network packet headers creates a direct path for exploitation. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation measures including upgrading to patched versions of Ethereal, implementing network segmentation to limit exposure, and deploying intrusion detection systems that can identify and block malformed iSNS traffic patterns. The vulnerability also underscores the necessity of comprehensive testing for protocol analyzer applications to ensure robust handling of malformed network traffic without compromising application stability or availability.