CVE-2007-4205 in Adonis DNS
Summary
by MITRE
XHA (Linux-HA) on the BlueCat Networks Adonis DNS/DHCP Appliance 5.0.2.8 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heartbeat control process crash) via a UDP packet to port 694. NOTE: this may be the same as CVE-2006-3121.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/27/2017
The vulnerability described in CVE-2007-4205 represents a critical denial of service weakness within the Linux-HA implementation on BlueCat Networks Adonis DNS/DHCP appliances version 5.0.2.8. This issue specifically targets the heartbeat control process that maintains high availability services within the appliance architecture. The heartbeat protocol operates on port 694 using UDP transport, serving as a vital communication mechanism for cluster nodes to monitor each other's health and coordinate failover operations. When malformed or specially crafted UDP packets are sent to this port, they trigger a crash in the heartbeat control process, effectively disrupting the appliance's ability to maintain its high availability configuration and potentially causing service interruptions.
The technical flaw stems from inadequate input validation within the heartbeat daemon's UDP packet processing routine. When the daemon receives a UDP packet on port 694, it fails to properly validate the packet structure and content before processing. This lack of validation creates an exploitable condition where remote attackers can craft packets that cause memory corruption or unexpected behavior in the heartbeat control process. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-129 as an input validation error that leads to improper handling of malformed data, while the attack vector aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.100 for network denial of service attacks. The root cause demonstrates a classic buffer overflow or parsing vulnerability where the system does not properly handle unexpected packet formats, leading to process termination.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations relying on the BlueCat Adonis appliance for critical DNS and DHCP services. A successful exploitation can result in complete service disruption, forcing automatic failover to backup systems and potentially causing extended downtime for network services. The appliance's role in managing DNS and DHCP infrastructure means that a denial of service attack could affect thousands of devices attempting to resolve domain names or obtain IP addresses. The vulnerability particularly affects environments where high availability is critical, as the heartbeat process failure can trigger unnecessary failovers, leading to service instability and potential data inconsistency issues. Organizations using this specific appliance version face risks of unauthorized service disruption that could impact business continuity and network operations.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate network-level protections and system updates to address the underlying vulnerability. Network administrators should implement firewall rules to restrict access to UDP port 694, limiting connections to trusted management networks only. The appliance should be updated to the latest firmware version provided by BlueCat Networks, which likely includes patches addressing the heartbeat validation issues. Additionally, monitoring should be implemented to detect unusual traffic patterns on port 694, and intrusion detection systems should be configured to alert on potential exploitation attempts. The solution aligns with defensive security practices outlined in NIST SP 800-53 and ISO 27001 controls for access control and system monitoring. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation to isolate the appliance from general network traffic and establish regular vulnerability assessments to identify similar weaknesses in other components of their infrastructure.