CVE-2004-2224 in Message Foundry
Summary
by MITRE
Appfoundry Message Foundry 2.75 .0003 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via an HTTP GET request that contains MS-DOS device names such as com1.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/17/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-2224 affects the Appfoundry Message Foundry 2.75.0003 web application server which is designed to handle HTTP requests and process messages through its messaging infrastructure. This particular flaw represents a classic input validation issue that can be exploited to disrupt service availability. The vulnerability stems from the application's inadequate handling of specially crafted HTTP GET requests that contain MS-DOS device names such as com1, which are typically reserved device identifiers in the Windows operating system. When the web server processes these malformed requests, it fails to properly sanitize or validate the input parameters, leading to an unexpected crash condition that results in a complete denial of service for legitimate users.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability involves the application's failure to properly filter or reject input containing reserved device names from the MS-DOS filesystem. These device names including com1, com2, lpt1, aux, con, and nul are special identifiers that have specific meanings within the Windows operating system and are typically rejected by the file system when attempting to create files with such names. When the Appfoundry Message Foundry server receives an HTTP GET request containing these device names in parameters or paths, it attempts to process them through its internal message handling routines without proper validation, causing the application to crash due to improper error handling or buffer overflow conditions. This behavior aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and represents a form of malformed input attack that can be categorized under the broader ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it allows remote attackers to perform a straightforward denial of service attack against the targeted web server without requiring any authentication or specialized privileges. An attacker can simply construct an HTTP GET request containing a URL parameter or path element with a device name such as com1 and submit it to the vulnerable server, causing the application to crash and become unavailable to legitimate users. The server will likely restart automatically, but this process can be repeated indefinitely to maintain the denial of service condition, effectively disrupting business operations and potentially causing financial losses. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be exploited by anyone with access to the network, making it a low-effort, high-impact attack vector that can be executed at scale against systems running this specific version of the Message Foundry software.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2004-2224 should focus on implementing proper input validation and sanitization measures within the web application server. Organizations should immediately apply the vendor-provided patches or updates that address this specific vulnerability, as the software vendor would have likely released a fix that properly validates and filters input parameters to reject reserved device names. Network-level mitigations can include implementing web application firewalls or intrusion prevention systems that can detect and block HTTP requests containing suspicious device name patterns. Additionally, administrators should consider implementing rate limiting and connection throttling mechanisms to reduce the impact of potential denial of service attacks. The solution should also include proper error handling within the application code to ensure that malformed requests do not cause crashes, instead returning appropriate error responses to prevent system instability. This vulnerability highlights the importance of following secure coding practices and input validation as outlined in industry standards such as the OWASP Top Ten and ISO/IEC 27001 security requirements for preventing similar issues in web applications.