CVE-2005-2487 in Intrepid 6140 Director Switch
Summary
by MITRE
Unknown vulnerability in Sun McData switches and directors 4300, 4500, 6064, and 6140 before E/OS 6.0.0 may allow attackers to cause a denial of service (connectivity and array access loss) via a network broadcast storm.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/30/2017
This vulnerability affects Sun McData storage area network switches and directors including models 4300, 4500, 6064, and 6140 running firmware versions prior to E/OS 6.0.0. The flaw represents a critical network infrastructure weakness that could be exploited to disrupt storage connectivity and array access operations. The vulnerability manifests as an inability to properly handle network broadcast storms, which can lead to complete service disruption for storage networks that rely on these devices for connectivity management.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate handling of broadcast traffic within the switch forwarding engine. When subjected to malicious or malformed broadcast packets, the affected devices fail to properly process or limit broadcast traffic, resulting in resource exhaustion and eventual system instability. This behavior aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes improper handling of broadcast traffic as a potential source of denial of service conditions. The vulnerability exploits fundamental network protocol processing mechanisms within the switch firmware, specifically in how the devices manage multicast and broadcast packet forwarding operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple connectivity disruption to encompass complete array access loss, which represents a severe degradation of service for storage area networks. Organizations relying on these switches for mission-critical storage operations face potential data access interruptions that could span hours or days depending on recovery procedures. The vulnerability affects the core functionality of storage network infrastructure, potentially causing cascading failures throughout connected storage arrays and applications that depend on uninterrupted connectivity. This type of attack vector aligns with ATT&CK technique T1498, which describes network denial of service attacks targeting network infrastructure components.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate firmware updates to E/OS 6.0.0 or later versions where the broadcast storm handling has been addressed. Network administrators should implement broadcast storm prevention mechanisms including rate limiting and broadcast filtering rules at the network perimeter. Additionally, monitoring systems should be deployed to detect unusual broadcast traffic patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date firmware for network infrastructure devices and demonstrates the critical nature of proper traffic handling in storage network switches. Organizations should also consider implementing redundant network paths and failover mechanisms to minimize the impact of potential exploitation events on business operations.