CVE-2008-1740 in Unified Presence
Summary
by MITRE
The Presence Engine (PE) service in Cisco Unified Presence before 6.0(1) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (core dump and service interruption) via an unspecified "stress test," aka Bug ID CSCsh20972.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/10/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-1740 affects the Presence Engine service within Cisco Unified Presence platforms running versions prior to 6.0(1). This critical security flaw represents a denial of service condition that can be exploited remotely by attackers to disrupt the availability of presence services. The vulnerability manifests through an unspecified stress test mechanism that triggers core dump generation and subsequent service interruption, effectively compromising the operational integrity of unified communications infrastructure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides within the Presence Engine service architecture, which handles real-time presence information updates and status notifications for unified communication endpoints. The stress test mechanism appears to exploit insufficient input validation or resource management within the service's processing routines, leading to memory corruption or resource exhaustion conditions that ultimately result in system crashes. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of improper input validation as classified by CWE-20, where the system fails to properly validate or sanitize inputs received from external sources, and specifically relates to CWE-129 which addresses insufficient validation of length of input buffers.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risk to enterprise communication infrastructures that rely on Cisco Unified Presence for real-time collaboration services. The denial of service condition can result in complete disruption of presence services, affecting thousands of users who depend on accurate status information for collaboration. The core dump generation indicates that the system is experiencing critical failures that require manual intervention for recovery, potentially leading to extended downtime periods that can severely impact business operations and productivity. The remote exploitability means that attackers can initiate this attack from outside the network perimeter without requiring physical access or authentication credentials.
The attack vector for CVE-2008-1740 aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which focuses on network denial of service attacks, specifically targeting communication protocols and services. The vulnerability demonstrates characteristics of a resource exhaustion attack pattern where the stress test consumes system resources beyond acceptable limits, leading to service disruption. Organizations implementing Cisco Unified Presence solutions should consider this vulnerability as part of their broader security posture assessment, particularly in environments where availability of presence services is critical for business operations. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper service hardening and input validation mechanisms within enterprise communication platforms, as outlined in security frameworks such as NIST SP 800-53 and ISO 27001 controls.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should prioritize immediate remediation through the application of Cisco's security patches and updates for the Unified Presence platform. The recommended mitigation strategy includes upgrading to Cisco Unified Presence version 6.0(1) or later, which contains the necessary fixes to address the stress test exploitation mechanism. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be implemented to limit exposure of the affected service to only trusted internal networks, reducing the attack surface and potential impact of exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and monitoring of system logs for signs of attempted exploitation should also be implemented as part of comprehensive security operations to detect and respond to similar vulnerabilities in the future.