CVE-2008-1741 in Unified Presence
Summary
by MITRE
The SIP Proxy (SIPD) service in Cisco Unified Presence before 6.0(3) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (core dump and service interruption) via a TCP port scan, aka Bug ID CSCsj64533.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/10/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-1741 affects the Session Initiation Protocol proxy service within Cisco Unified Presence systems prior to version 6.0(3). This represents a critical denial of service weakness that specifically targets the SIPD service component responsible for handling session initiation protocol communications. The flaw manifests when the system encounters certain TCP port scanning activities, leading to unexpected system behavior that ultimately results in core dump generation and complete service interruption.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability involves the SIPD service's inadequate handling of malformed or unexpected TCP connection patterns during port scanning operations. When remote attackers execute TCP port scans against the affected Cisco Unified Presence systems, the service fails to properly validate incoming connection attempts and connection state transitions. This processing failure triggers an internal error condition that causes the system to generate core dump files and subsequently terminate the service operations. The vulnerability specifically exploits the service's insufficient input validation and error handling mechanisms when processing network traffic patterns associated with port scanning activities.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to enterprise communication infrastructure since it allows remote attackers to disrupt critical collaboration services without requiring authentication or privileged access. The denial of service condition affects the availability of presence services, which are fundamental to unified communication systems, potentially impacting thousands of users within affected organizations. The core dump generation also creates additional system overhead and storage consumption while the service remains unavailable, compounding the operational disruption. Organizations relying on Cisco Unified Presence for business-critical communications face substantial risk of service interruption during attack windows.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with attack patterns found in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1499 category for network denial of service. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches for Cisco Unified Presence version 6.0(3) or later, which address the input validation issues in the SIPD service. Network-level protections such as firewall rules that limit TCP port scanning activities against the affected systems can provide additional defense-in-depth measures. Regular monitoring of system logs for core dump generation and service interruption patterns should be implemented as part of ongoing security operations to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining current security patches and implementing proper network segmentation to limit exposure of critical communication infrastructure to external scanning activities.