CVE-2004-2423 in IMail
Summary
by MITRE
Unknown vulnerability in the Web calendaring component of Ipswitch IMail Server before 8.13 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via "specific content."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/24/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-2423 affects the web calendaring component of Ipswitch IMail Server versions prior to 8.13, representing a critical security flaw that enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks. This issue stems from insufficient input validation within the web calendaring functionality, which fails to properly sanitize or validate incoming data before processing. The vulnerability manifests when specific malformed or crafted content is submitted to the calendaring component, triggering unexpected behavior that ultimately results in the application crashing or becoming unresponsive. Such a flaw represents a classic buffer overflow or input validation vulnerability that falls under the broader category of improper input validation weaknesses commonly referenced in CWE-20.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the lack of proper content filtering mechanisms within the IMail Server's web calendaring interface. When remote attackers submit specifically crafted data to the calendaring component, the server processes this input without adequate sanitization, leading to memory corruption or resource exhaustion that causes the service to terminate unexpectedly. This behavior aligns with attack patterns documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1499 technique for network denial of service, where adversaries leverage application vulnerabilities to disrupt service availability. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers can trigger the denial of service condition without requiring local system access or authentication, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where calendar services are exposed to external networks.
The operational impact of CVE-2004-2423 extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can effectively render the calendaring functionality of IMail Server completely inoperable for legitimate users. Organizations relying on this component for scheduling, meeting coordination, and calendar synchronization face significant business continuity risks when this vulnerability is exploited. The crash condition may not only affect calendar access but could potentially impact other integrated services within the IMail ecosystem, depending on how tightly the calendaring component is integrated with other server functions. Network administrators must consider that such denial of service attacks can be automated and repeated, potentially causing sustained service degradation that requires manual intervention to restore normal operations.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patch deployment to upgrade to Ipswitch IMail Server version 8.13 or later, which contains the necessary fixes to address the input validation deficiencies. Organizations should also implement network-level controls such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems to restrict access to the affected web calendaring component when immediate patching is not feasible. Additionally, regular security assessments should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of the mail server infrastructure. The remediation process must include thorough testing of the patched environment to ensure that legitimate calendaring functionality remains intact while the vulnerability is properly addressed. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual patterns of access to the calendaring component that might indicate attempted exploitation of this or similar vulnerabilities, aligning with best practices for continuous threat detection and response as outlined in industry security frameworks.