CVE-2008-0791 in WinIPDS
Summary
by MITRE
ipdsserver.exe in Intermate WinIPDS 3.3 G52-33-021 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via short packets on TCP port 5001 with the 3, 5, 7, 13, 14, or 15 packet types.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/16/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-0791 affects the ipdsserver.exe component within Intermate WinIPDS version 3.3 G52-33-021, representing a significant security weakness that enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks against systems running this software. This vulnerability specifically targets the TCP port 5001 service which is part of the WinIPDS printing system designed for enterprise environments. The flaw manifests when the server receives specially crafted short packets containing specific packet types numbered 3, 5, 7, 13, 14, or 15, leading to excessive CPU consumption that ultimately results in service disruption and system unavailability.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the ipdsserver.exe process. When the server receives packets with the specified types, it fails to properly handle the malformed or truncated data structures, causing the system to enter an infinite loop or consume excessive computational resources during packet processing. This represents a classic case of insufficient data validation and error handling, where the software does not adequately check packet integrity or implement proper bounds checking before processing incoming network traffic. The vulnerability operates at the network protocol level, specifically targeting the application layer where the WinIPDS server listens for incoming print job requests and data transfers.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses a substantial risk to enterprise printing infrastructure and business continuity operations. Organizations relying on WinIPDS for document processing and printing services could experience complete service outages when attackers exploit this vulnerability, particularly in environments where print servers are exposed to untrusted network segments. The CPU consumption aspect means that legitimate print jobs may be delayed or rejected, while the system becomes increasingly unstable as the malicious packets continue to be processed. This vulnerability could be particularly dangerous in high-volume printing environments where print servers handle hundreds of requests per minute, as the denial of service effect would compound rapidly and could potentially affect critical business operations.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and represents a variant of the broader category of buffer overflows and input validation failures that have plagued network services for decades. From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1498, specifically targeting application availability through resource exhaustion. The attack vector requires only network access to port 5001, making it easily exploitable from external networks, and the low complexity of packet crafting means that even non-technical attackers could potentially leverage this weakness. Organizations should consider implementing network segmentation to isolate print servers, applying firewall rules to restrict access to port 5001, and monitoring for unusual CPU usage patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The most effective mitigation involves applying the vendor-provided security patch or upgrading to a newer version of the WinIPDS software that properly validates incoming packet data and implements robust error handling mechanisms to prevent excessive resource consumption during malformed packet processing.