CVE-2006-1933 in Ethereal
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in Ethereal 0.10.x up to 0.10.14 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (large or infinite loops) viarafted packets to the (1) UMA and (2) BER dissectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/12/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-1933 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting Ethereal network protocol analyzer versions 0.10.x through 0.10.14. This issue stems from insufficient input validation within the packet dissection components of the application, specifically targeting the UMA and BER dissectors. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to craft malicious packets that trigger abnormal processing behaviors in the network analysis tool. When these malformed packets are processed by the affected dissectors, they cause the application to enter into large or infinite loops, effectively consuming system resources and rendering the tool unusable for legitimate network monitoring activities.
The technical nature of this vulnerability places it firmly within the category of software defects that can be exploited through crafted input data, aligning with CWE-674 - Uncontrolled Recursion and CWE-835 - Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition. The flaw manifests when Ethereal attempts to parse specially constructed packets that contain malformed data structures specific to the UMA and BER protocols. These dissectors are responsible for interpreting and displaying protocol-specific information from captured network traffic, and their failure to properly handle malformed input leads to the execution of infinite loops during packet analysis. The vulnerability demonstrates a classic example of insufficient error handling and input validation in network protocol parsing components, which is a common pattern in network analysis tools where robustness against malformed data is critical.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it affects network monitoring capabilities that organizations rely upon for security operations and troubleshooting. When an attacker successfully exploits this vulnerability, they can cause Ethereal to become unresponsive or consume excessive CPU resources, effectively preventing network administrators from performing critical monitoring tasks. This denial of service condition can be particularly damaging in environments where network analysis is performed continuously, as it may go unnoticed until the system becomes completely unresponsive. The vulnerability also demonstrates how seemingly minor flaws in protocol parsing can have significant operational consequences, as the affected dissectors are commonly used components within the network analysis toolchain. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in production environments where network monitoring tools are essential for maintaining operational security.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability primarily focus on immediate version updates to Ethereal 0.10.15 or later, which contain patches addressing the problematic dissectors. Organizations should also implement network segmentation and monitoring to detect anomalous packet patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, network administrators should consider implementing rate limiting and packet filtering mechanisms to reduce the impact of malformed packets reaching the monitoring tools. The vulnerability highlights the importance of regular security updates and proper input validation in network analysis tools, as specified in industry best practices such as those outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and NIST guidelines for secure software development. Organizations should also consider implementing network intrusion detection systems that can identify and alert on suspicious packet patterns that might indicate attempts to exploit similar vulnerabilities in other network analysis tools.