CVE-2005-4812 in ICCP Toolkit for MMS-EASE
Summary
by MITRE
The SISCO OSI stack for Windows, as used by MMS-EASE 7.10 and earlier, AX-S4 MMS 5.01 and earlier, AX-S4 ICCP 3.0103 and earlier, and the ICCP Toolkit for MMS-EASE 4.10 and earlier, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (process crash) via certain network traffic, as demonstrated using a Nessus scan.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/23/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-4812 affects the SISCO OSI stack implementation on Windows platforms, specifically impacting several industrial communication software products including MMS-EASE 7.10 and earlier versions, AX-S4 MMS 5.01 and earlier, AX-S4 ICCP 3.0103 and earlier, and the ICCP Toolkit for MMS-EASE 4.10 and earlier. This flaw represents a critical security weakness that enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks against systems utilizing these software components. The vulnerability manifests when the affected software receives specific network traffic patterns that trigger a process crash, effectively rendering the targeted system unavailable to legitimate users. The attack vector is particularly concerning as it operates entirely over the network without requiring any authentication or privileged access, making it accessible to any attacker with network connectivity to the vulnerable system.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation within the SISCO OSI stack implementation. When the software processes certain malformed or crafted network packets, the parsing routines fail to properly handle the unexpected data structures, leading to memory corruption or invalid pointer dereferences. This type of flaw typically falls under CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of array indices, or CWE-121, concerning stack-based buffer overflow conditions. The vulnerability's exploitation occurs during the normal processing of network communications, where the software's protocol handling code does not adequately validate incoming data before attempting to process it. The specific nature of the network traffic pattern that triggers this vulnerability suggests that it may involve malformed OSI protocol messages or incorrect sequence of communication exchanges that the stack does not properly anticipate or defend against.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for industrial control systems and network infrastructure that rely on these MMS and ICCP implementations. The denial of service condition results in complete system unavailability, potentially disrupting critical industrial processes, monitoring systems, or communication networks that depend on these protocols. The vulnerability's susceptibility to automated exploitation through tools like Nessus scan indicates that it can be easily discovered and leveraged by attackers without requiring specialized knowledge or extensive reconnaissance. Organizations running these affected software versions face potential operational disruptions ranging from temporary service interruptions to extended outages that could affect production processes, safety systems, or network availability. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as such vulnerabilities often indicate deeper architectural weaknesses in the software's security design.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate attention from system administrators and security teams responsible for industrial control systems. The primary recommended action involves upgrading to patched versions of the affected software components, as vendors would have released updates addressing the input validation flaws. Organizations should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of these systems to untrusted networks, particularly utilizing firewalls to restrict communication to only authorized endpoints. Network monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, though the vulnerability's nature makes it challenging to distinguish from legitimate network activity. Additionally, implementing intrusion detection systems with signature-based detection capabilities can help identify and alert on known exploitation patterns. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would place it within the privilege escalation or denial of service categories, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security controls. Organizations should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of their industrial control system environments to identify other potentially affected components that might share similar architectural flaws or dependencies on vulnerable software stacks.