CVE-2005-1663 in Jeuce Personal Web Server
Summary
by MITRE
Jeuce Personal Web Server 2.13 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (server crash) via a GET request beginning with "://".
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/08/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-1663 affects Jeuce Personal Web Server version 2.13, representing a significant denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely by malicious actors. This particular flaw demonstrates how seemingly innocuous HTTP request formatting can lead to complete service disruption, highlighting the importance of proper input validation in web server implementations. The vulnerability specifically manifests when the server processes GET requests that begin with the malformed sequence "://", which triggers an unexpected behavior in the server's request parsing mechanism.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the inadequate validation of HTTP request syntax within the Jeuce Personal Web Server implementation. When a remote attacker crafts a GET request starting with "://", the server fails to properly handle this malformed input, leading to a critical processing error that ultimately results in the server crashing and becoming unavailable to legitimate users. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of improper input validation, which is commonly associated with CWE-20 - Improper Input Validation, and represents a classic example of how malformed data can cause application instability. The server's inability to gracefully handle unexpected input patterns demonstrates a fundamental flaw in its error handling and request parsing logic.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service interruption, as it provides attackers with a straightforward method to disrupt web services without requiring any authentication or specialized privileges. Remote exploitation means that adversaries can target vulnerable servers from anywhere on the internet, making this a particularly dangerous weakness for any organization relying on Jeuce Personal Web Server for their web hosting needs. The consequences include complete service unavailability, potential data loss during crash recovery, and significant disruption to business operations that depend on web accessibility. This vulnerability also demonstrates the broader threat landscape where simple syntactic errors in web server implementations can be weaponized to cause widespread service disruption, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 - Endpoint Denial of Service, which focuses on causing service unavailability through various technical means.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2005-1663 should prioritize immediate deployment of vendor patches or updates where available, as this represents a known vulnerability that has likely been addressed in subsequent releases. Organizations should implement network-level filtering to block malformed HTTP requests that begin with "://" patterns, though this approach requires careful implementation to avoid disrupting legitimate traffic. Additionally, deploying web application firewalls or intrusion prevention systems can help detect and block such malicious requests before they reach the vulnerable server. The vulnerability also underscores the importance of implementing robust input validation mechanisms and comprehensive error handling in all web server implementations, with proper logging and monitoring to detect exploitation attempts. Organizations should conduct regular security assessments of their web server configurations and ensure that all software components are kept up to date with the latest security patches to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in their environments.