CVE-2007-4516 in Storage Foundation
Summary
by MITRE
The Volume Manager Scheduler Service (aka VxSchedService.exe) in Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation 5.0 for Windows allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash or hang) via malformed packets.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/08/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-4516 affects the Volume Manager Scheduler Service component of Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation version 5.0 running on Windows systems. This service, commonly known as VxSchedService.exe, is responsible for managing scheduled tasks and operations within the storage foundation environment. The flaw represents a classic input validation issue where the service fails to properly handle malformed network packets, leading to system instability and potential service disruption.
This vulnerability resides in the network communication handling mechanisms of the Volume Manager Scheduler Service, which operates as a daemon process on Windows systems. The service listens for network connections to process scheduling commands and management operations. When malformed packets are received, the service does not implement proper error handling or input sanitization routines, causing the daemon to either crash or enter a hung state. The technical nature of this flaw aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and CWE-248, which covers exposure of an uninitialized variable. The vulnerability demonstrates a clear lack of robust error handling in network service implementations, where untrusted input is not properly validated before processing.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the entire storage infrastructure managed by Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation. When the VxSchedService.exe daemon crashes or hangs, it affects scheduled storage operations, backup processes, and potentially the overall availability of storage resources managed by the system. Attackers can exploit this weakness remotely without requiring authentication, making it particularly dangerous in networked environments where the service may be exposed to untrusted networks. This vulnerability affects the availability aspect of the CIA triad and can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1499.1, which involves network denial of service attacks targeting services and daemons.
The exploitation of this vulnerability requires minimal technical skill and can be executed through network-based attacks that send malformed packets to the affected service. Given that the service operates as a background daemon, the impact may not be immediately apparent to system administrators, potentially allowing attackers to maintain persistent access while disrupting critical storage operations. Organizations using Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation 5.0 should implement network segmentation to limit access to the affected service, disable unnecessary network exposure, and apply the vendor-provided security patches as soon as available. The vulnerability highlights the importance of implementing proper input validation and error handling in all network-facing services, particularly those handling critical infrastructure operations. This issue underscores the need for comprehensive security testing of storage management components and demonstrates how seemingly minor input validation flaws can lead to significant operational disruptions in enterprise storage environments.