CVE-2007-4161 in Rendezvous
Summary
by MITRE
rvd in TIBCO Rendezvous (RV) 7.5.2, when -no-lead-wc is omitted, might allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (network instability) via a subject name with a leading (1) * (asterisk) or (2) > (greater than) wildcard character.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/06/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-4161 affects TIBCO Rendezvous version 7.5.2, specifically within the rvd daemon component that handles message routing and network communication. This issue represents a denial of service weakness that stems from improper handling of subject names containing wildcard characters at the beginning of message routing patterns. The vulnerability becomes exploitable when the -no-lead-wc command line option is omitted during the daemon startup process, which is the default configuration in many deployments.
The technical flaw manifests when TIBCO Rendezvous processes subject names that begin with either an asterisk * or greater than > wildcard character. These characters are typically used in message routing to define patterns that match multiple topics or to specify routing rules, but when they appear at the start of a subject name without proper configuration, they trigger unexpected behavior in the routing engine. The rvd daemon fails to properly validate or sanitize these leading wildcard characters, causing the system to enter a state of network instability that can result in complete service disruption.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risk to enterprise messaging infrastructure that relies on TIBCO Rendezvous for critical business communications. Attackers can exploit this weakness by sending specially crafted messages with subject names beginning with the problematic wildcard characters, leading to network instability that affects the entire messaging fabric. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as the instability can propagate through the network, potentially causing cascading failures in dependent systems and applications that depend on reliable message routing.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-200, which addresses "Information Exposure," and CWE-400, related to "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption," as the malicious subject names can cause resource exhaustion and network disruption. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this represents a Denial of Service attack technique that leverages protocol manipulation to compromise system availability. The attack vector is particularly concerning as it requires minimal privileges and can be executed remotely, making it suitable for widespread exploitation in environments where TIBCO Rendezvous is deployed without proper security hardening.
The recommended mitigations include configuring the rvd daemon with the -no-lead-wc command line option to disable leading wildcard character processing, implementing proper input validation and sanitization for subject names at the application level, and applying the vendor-provided security patches or updates that address this specific vulnerability. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should also be deployed to detect and alert on suspicious message patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, while regular security assessments should verify that the configuration settings are properly enforced across all deployed instances.