CVE-2004-1457 in BorderManager
Summary
by MITRE
The Virtual Private Network (VPN) capability in Novell Bordermanager 3.8 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (ABEND in IKE.NLM) via a malformed IKE packet, as sent by the Striker ISAKMP Protocol Test Suite.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/21/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-1457 represents a critical denial of service flaw within Novell Bordermanager 3.8's VPN implementation. This issue specifically targets the Internet Key Exchange protocol handling mechanism known as IKE.NLM which is responsible for establishing secure communication channels between VPN clients and servers. The vulnerability manifests when the system receives malformed IKE packets that are crafted to exploit buffer handling weaknesses in the IKE processing module. These malformed packets are typically generated by security testing tools such as the Striker ISAKMP Protocol Test Suite, which is designed to identify protocol implementation flaws in security systems.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through a specific buffer overflow condition within the IKE.NLM component that processes incoming Internet Key Exchange messages. When the Bordermanager system attempts to parse and handle these malformed packets, the insufficient input validation and memory management routines cause the system to crash or abend, resulting in a complete denial of service condition for the affected VPN service. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-121 category of buffer overflow conditions, specifically representing a stack-based buffer overflow that occurs during the processing of network protocol data. The flaw demonstrates poor input sanitization practices where the system fails to properly validate the length and structure of incoming IKE packets before attempting to process them.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations relying on Novell Bordermanager for their network security infrastructure. The denial of service condition effectively renders the VPN service unavailable to legitimate users, potentially disrupting business operations and creating security gaps in network access control. The attack vector is particularly concerning because it requires minimal technical expertise to execute, as demonstrated by the use of standard protocol testing tools. Security professionals must consider that attackers could leverage this vulnerability to create sustained service disruptions or to mask more sophisticated attacks by temporarily disabling the VPN service. The impact extends beyond simple availability concerns as it may also affect network access policies and user authentication mechanisms that depend on the VPN infrastructure.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2004-1457 should focus on immediate system hardening measures and long-term architectural improvements. Organizations should implement network segmentation to isolate the affected Bordermanager systems from critical network resources and deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for malformed IKE traffic patterns. The most effective immediate solution involves applying the vendor-provided security patches or upgrading to newer versions of Novell Bordermanager that address the buffer handling issues in IKE.NLM. Additionally, network administrators should configure access control lists to restrict the sources of IKE traffic and implement rate limiting to prevent abuse of the vulnerable protocol handling. According to ATT&CK framework category T1499, this vulnerability represents a service disruption technique that can be used to deny access to network resources, making it a critical target for defensive security measures. The vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which involves initial access through network service exploitation, emphasizing the need for comprehensive network security controls beyond simple patch management. Organizations should also consider implementing redundant VPN infrastructure and failover mechanisms to maintain business continuity during potential exploitation attempts.