CVE-2005-4296 in Open Project
Summary
by MITRE
AppServ Open Project 2.5.3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a large HTTP request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/01/2017
The AppServ Open Project version 2.5.3 contains a critical vulnerability that enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks through the submission of excessively large HTTP requests. This vulnerability represents a classic buffer overflow condition that occurs when the web server fails to properly validate or limit the size of incoming HTTP request data. The flaw exists in the HTTP request handling mechanism where the application does not implement adequate input sanitization or size limitations for request bodies, allowing malicious actors to overwhelm the server's memory allocation processes.
This vulnerability falls under the CWE-122 category of "Heap-based Buffer Overflow" and aligns with the ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for Network Denial of Service. The technical implementation of this flaw demonstrates how insufficient input validation can lead to resource exhaustion, where the web server attempts to allocate memory for processing oversized requests beyond its configured limits. When an attacker sends a malformed HTTP request containing an excessive amount of data, the server's request parsing mechanism becomes overwhelmed, leading to memory allocation failures and subsequent service termination.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can be exploited to systematically degrade server performance and availability. Attackers can leverage this weakness to consume server resources rapidly, potentially causing cascading failures that affect legitimate users and applications hosted on the same infrastructure. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires minimal technical expertise to exploit, making it a preferred target for automated attack tools and script kiddies seeking to disrupt web services.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability include implementing strict HTTP request size limits through server configuration modifications, deploying web application firewalls that can detect and block oversized requests, and applying immediate patches from the AppServ project maintainers. Network-level protections such as rate limiting and connection throttling can help reduce the impact of such attacks by limiting the number of requests that can be processed within a given timeframe. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and buffer management techniques in the application layer will prevent similar vulnerabilities from occurring in future versions. Organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems that can monitor for unusual request patterns and automatically trigger alerts when potential exploitation attempts are detected.