CVE-2006-0362 in IPS
Summary
by MITRE
TippingPoint Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) TOS before 2.1.4.6324, and TOS 2.2.x before 2.2.1.6506, allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via an unknown vector, probably involving an HTTP request with a negative number in the Content-Length header.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/20/2018
The TippingPoint Intrusion Prevention System represents a critical network security appliance designed to detect and prevent malicious traffic patterns in enterprise environments. This particular vulnerability affects the TippingPoint TOS (Threat Response Operating System) versions prior to specific patches, creating a significant operational risk for organizations relying on this intrusion prevention technology. The vulnerability manifests as a remote denial of service condition that can be triggered without authentication, potentially allowing attackers to consume excessive CPU resources and render the security appliance ineffective. The affected versions span across multiple release lines including TOS 2.1.4.x series before 2.1.4.6324 and TOS 2.2.x series before 2.2.1.6506, indicating this was a widespread issue affecting the core operating system functionality.
The technical flaw involves improper handling of HTTP request headers, specifically the Content-Length field which contains a negative number value. This condition represents a classic input validation vulnerability where the system fails to properly sanitize or validate incoming HTTP headers before processing them. When the TippingPoint IPS receives an HTTP request containing a negative Content-Length value, the system's parsing routine likely attempts to interpret this invalid data in a manner that causes excessive CPU consumption. This behavior aligns with CWE-191, Integer Underflow, where the negative value causes unexpected arithmetic operations that result in resource exhaustion rather than proper error handling. The vulnerability's exploitation mechanism suggests that the system's HTTP protocol handling code does not adequately validate header field values, particularly those that should represent positive integer quantities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it fundamentally undermines the security posture of organizations relying on TippingPoint IPS appliances. Remote attackers can exploit this weakness without requiring authentication credentials, making it particularly dangerous in network environments where such appliances are deployed. The CPU consumption attack can potentially lead to complete system unresponsiveness, causing legitimate network traffic to be dropped or delayed, which creates a false sense of security while the actual attack is occurring. This type of denial of service attack directly conflicts with the fundamental purpose of intrusion prevention systems, which are expected to maintain availability while protecting against other threats. The vulnerability also represents a potential attack vector for broader network disruption, as the compromised appliance may fail to properly filter malicious traffic, exposing network segments to additional risks.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying the vendor-provided patches for TOS versions 2.1.4.6324 and 2.2.1.6506, which address the input validation issues in HTTP header processing. Network administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring for unusual CPU usage patterns on IPS appliances, as this could serve as an early detection mechanism for similar attacks. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and robust error handling in security appliances, which aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for Network Denial of Service. Organizations may also want to consider implementing network segmentation strategies that limit direct access to critical security appliances and establish logging mechanisms that can detect malformed HTTP requests. The incident highlights the necessity for comprehensive security testing of protocol handling components within network security infrastructure, particularly in environments where appliances must process untrusted network traffic from diverse sources.