CVE-2004-2641 in Fire
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Sun Fire 3800/4800/4810/6800, Sun Fire V1280, and Netra 1280 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (system controller hang) via IP Packets With Type of Service (TOS) Bits set.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/28/2019
This vulnerability resides within the system controller firmware of several sun fire and netra server models including the sun fire 3800 4800 4810 6800 series and sun fire v1280 and netra 1280 systems. The flaw manifests when the system controller processes ip packets that contain type of service bits set in their header. This represents a classic denial of service condition where maliciously crafted network traffic can cause the system controller to enter a hung state. The vulnerability falls under the category of unspecified flaws that typically indicate a lack of detailed technical information in the original disclosure, though the impact is clearly defined as system controller hang rather than complete system compromise.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability involves the processing of ip packet headers and specifically the type of service field which is used by network protocols to indicate the desired quality of service for packet delivery. When these bits are set in specific configurations, the system controller firmware fails to properly handle the incoming packets, leading to a deadlock or hang condition. This type of vulnerability is classified as a software flaw in the network processing stack of the system controller firmware, which is responsible for managing the hardware components and system operations. The issue represents a failure in input validation and error handling within the firmware's packet processing logic, where the system controller does not properly sanitize or reject malformed packet headers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption as it affects the core management and monitoring capabilities of these enterprise servers. When the system controller hangs, it typically cannot respond to other network management traffic, cannot provide status information to administrators, and may prevent the system from properly handling hardware faults or maintenance operations. This creates a situation where administrators lose visibility into the system's operational status and cannot perform critical management functions. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely without authentication, making it particularly dangerous in networked environments where unauthorized parties might have access to the network segment. According to the attack pattern taxonomy, this vulnerability aligns with the denial of service category and could potentially be leveraged as part of broader network disruption campaigns. The attack requires minimal privileges and can be executed from any network location that can send ip packets to the target system.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on network level controls and firmware updates where available. Organizations should implement ingress filtering to block ip packets with unusual or malformed type of service field configurations, particularly those that set bits in ways that are not standard for legitimate network traffic. Network administrators should also consider implementing rate limiting or packet filtering rules that can identify and drop suspicious packet patterns before they reach the system controller. The most effective long-term solution involves applying firmware updates from sun that address the specific handling of type of service bits in ip packets. According to common weakness enumeration standards, this vulnerability would be categorized as cwe-129 input validation issues or cwe-707 improper handling of input, and from the attack technique perspective it maps to attack technique t1499 disruption of services. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation to limit exposure of these critical systems to untrusted network segments and establish monitoring for unusual network traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts.