CVE-2006-1941 in Neon Responder
Summary
by MITRE
Neon Responder 5.4 for LANsurveyor allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application outage) via a crafted Clock Synchronisation packet that triggers an access violation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/07/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-1941 affects Neon Responder 5.4, a component of the LANsurveyor network monitoring suite that provides clock synchronization services for network devices. This flaw represents a critical denial of service vulnerability that can be exploited by remote attackers to disrupt network operations and cause application outages. The vulnerability specifically manifests when the system receives a malformed Clock Synchronisation packet that triggers an access violation within the application's processing logic. Such a condition typically indicates that the application fails to properly validate incoming packet data before attempting to process it, leading to memory access violations that cause the service to crash or become unresponsive.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions where applications fail to properly validate input data before processing. The flaw occurs during the handling of network synchronization packets, suggesting that the application's network protocol implementation lacks adequate input validation mechanisms. When a maliciously crafted packet is transmitted to the affected system, it triggers an access violation that results in the application terminating unexpectedly. This type of vulnerability is particularly dangerous in network monitoring environments where availability is critical for maintaining operational visibility and network health monitoring capabilities.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to network infrastructure that relies on LANsurveyor for clock synchronization and monitoring functions. The remote exploitability means that attackers can initiate the denial of service condition from outside the local network perimeter, potentially affecting critical network operations and monitoring capabilities. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as network administrators may lose visibility into network timing synchronization, which can affect various network services that depend on accurate timekeeping for proper operation. This vulnerability particularly affects environments where precise time synchronization is required for security logging, network performance monitoring, and distributed system coordination.
The mitigation strategy for this vulnerability should focus on implementing proper input validation and boundary checking within the application's network packet processing routines. Network administrators should immediately apply vendor patches or updates to Neon Responder 5.4 to address the access violation issue. Additionally, implementing network segmentation and access controls can help limit the attack surface by restricting direct network access to the affected system. The vulnerability's characteristics align with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which involves network disruption through denial of service attacks, and T1566.001, which encompasses spearphishing attacks that could potentially deliver the malicious packets. Organizations should also consider implementing network monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous packet patterns and automatically alert administrators to potential exploitation attempts, as this vulnerability could serve as a precursor to more sophisticated attacks targeting the broader network infrastructure.