CVE-2004-0635 in Ethereal
Summary
by MITRE
The SNMP dissector in Ethereal 0.8.15 through 0.10.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (process crash) via a (1) malformed or (2) missing community string, which causes an out-of-bounds read.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/16/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-0635 represents a critical denial of service flaw within the SNMP dissector component of Ethereal network protocol analyzer versions 0.8.15 through 0.10.4. This issue stems from inadequate input validation and memory management practices within the software's handling of Simple Network Management Protocol packets. The vulnerability manifests when the application encounters malformed or missing community strings in SNMP packets, which are essential components used for authentication and access control in network management operations. The affected software fails to properly validate the length and structure of these community strings before attempting to process them, creating a scenario where maliciously crafted SNMP packets can trigger unexpected behavior in the protocol analyzer.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through what is classified as an out-of-bounds read condition, which is a common software flaw that falls under CWE-129. When the SNMP dissector processes an SNMP packet with malformed or missing community strings, the application attempts to read memory locations beyond the allocated buffer boundaries. This memory access violation causes the Ethereal process to crash and terminate unexpectedly, effectively rendering the network monitoring capability unavailable. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because SNMP is widely deployed in enterprise network environments for device management and monitoring, making the impact of such a denial of service attack significant for network operations and security monitoring activities.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a substantial risk for network administrators who rely on Ethereal for network troubleshooting and security monitoring. The denial of service condition can be triggered remotely by any attacker who can send specially crafted SNMP packets to a system running the vulnerable version of Ethereal. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where network monitoring tools are actively running and processing traffic from multiple sources. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as it can disrupt network visibility and security monitoring capabilities, potentially leaving network administrators blind to ongoing attacks or network issues during the time the application is unavailable.
The vulnerability aligns with several tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly those related to denial of service and privilege escalation through software exploitation. Network security professionals should consider this vulnerability when assessing their network monitoring tool security posture, as it demonstrates how protocol analysis tools can become attack vectors themselves. The flaw underscores the importance of proper input validation and memory safety practices in network security applications, as even legitimate protocol analyzers can become targets for exploitation when they fail to properly handle malformed input. Organizations using vulnerable versions of Ethereal should immediately upgrade to patched versions or implement network segmentation to prevent unauthorized access to systems running the affected software.
This vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date network security tools and the potential for seemingly benign protocol handling functions to become security risks. The out-of-bounds read condition represents a fundamental flaw in memory management that can be exploited to cause complete application failure, highlighting the need for robust error handling and input validation in network monitoring applications. The security community should recognize that protocol analyzers, while essential tools for network security, must be hardened against various forms of input manipulation that could be used to compromise their stability and availability.