CVE-2005-2363 in Ethereal
Summary
by MITRE
Unknown vulnerability in the (1) SMPP dissector, (2) 802.3 dissector, (3) DHCP, (4) MEGACO dissector, or (5) H1 dissector in Ethereal 0.8.15 through 0.10.11 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via unknown attack vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/05/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-2363 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting the Ethereal network protocol analyzer version 0.8.15 through 0.10.11. This issue manifests within multiple dissectors including SMPP, 802.3, DHCP, MEGACO, and H1 protocols, indicating a systemic weakness in how these network traffic parsers handle malformed or specially crafted input data. The vulnerability specifically enables remote attackers to trigger infinite loop conditions that can cause the application to consume excessive CPU resources and become unresponsive. The affected dissectors are responsible for analyzing and interpreting specific network protocols, making this a particularly dangerous flaw since it can be exploited against any network traffic that passes through the vulnerable Ethereal version. The unknown attack vectors suggest that the precise method of exploitation remains partially unclear, but the impact is severe enough to warrant immediate attention from network security professionals. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability of network analysis services and can be leveraged by malicious actors to disrupt network monitoring operations.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-835, which describes the weakness of an infinite loop in software systems. The flaw occurs during protocol parsing operations where the dissectors fail to properly validate input data or implement adequate loop termination conditions. When processing malformed packets or specially crafted network traffic, these dissectors enter into infinite loops, consuming system resources and preventing normal operation. The affected versions of Ethereal, being network protocol analyzers, process vast amounts of network traffic data, making them ideal targets for such denial of service attacks. The infinite loop condition typically occurs when the parser encounters unexpected data structures or malformed protocol elements that cause control flow to become trapped in repetitive processing sequences. This behavior represents a fundamental failure in defensive programming practices and input validation mechanisms within the protocol analysis components.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise entire network monitoring infrastructures. Organizations relying on Ethereal for network traffic analysis and troubleshooting could experience complete system outages when exploited by attackers, leading to loss of visibility into network operations and potential security incidents going undetected. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this vulnerability from outside the network perimeter without requiring physical access or elevated privileges. This makes the vulnerability particularly attractive to threat actors seeking to disrupt network operations or create cover for other malicious activities. The cascading effect of such denial of service conditions can impact network administrators who depend on these tools for real-time monitoring and incident response activities, potentially leading to extended periods of network blind spots.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2005-2363 require immediate action to upgrade to patched versions of Ethereal, specifically version 0.10.12 or later, which contain fixes for the infinite loop conditions in the affected dissectors. Organizations should also implement network segmentation and monitoring to detect unusual CPU usage patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input validation and defensive programming practices in network security tools, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. Network administrators should also consider implementing rate limiting and traffic filtering mechanisms to reduce the potential impact of such attacks. Regular security assessments of network monitoring tools and maintaining up-to-date security patches represent essential defensive measures against similar vulnerabilities. The incident highlights the critical need for thorough testing of protocol parsers and the implementation of timeout mechanisms to prevent resource exhaustion attacks that could compromise network infrastructure availability and security monitoring capabilities.