CVE-2008-1744 in Unified Communications Manager
Summary
by MITRE
The Certificate Authority Proxy Function (CAPF) service in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) 4.1 before 4.1(3)SR7, 4.2 before 4.2(3)SR4, and 4.3 before 4.3(2) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (service crash) via malformed network traffic, aka Bug ID CSCsk46770.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/10/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-1744 resides within the Certificate Authority Proxy Function service of Cisco Unified Communications Manager, a critical component in enterprise communication infrastructure. This flaw affects specific versions of CUCM including 4.1 before 4.1(3)SR7, 4.2 before 4.2(3)SR4, and 4.3 before 4.3(2), representing a significant security concern for organizations relying on Cisco's unified communications solutions. The vulnerability manifests through a denial of service condition that can be triggered remotely by sending malformed network traffic to the affected CAPF service, effectively causing the targeted service to crash and become unavailable to legitimate users.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the CAPF service implementation. When the service receives malformed network packets, it fails to properly handle the unexpected data structures, leading to a service crash that results in complete denial of service for the certificate authority proxy functionality. This represents a classic buffer overflow or input validation vulnerability where the system does not adequately sanitize incoming network data before processing it. The flaw operates at the network protocol level, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited from remote locations without requiring physical access or authentication credentials, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1499.200 for network denial of service attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can severely compromise enterprise communication infrastructure that relies on certificate authority functions for secure voice and video communications. Organizations using affected CUCM versions face the risk of communication outages that could affect business continuity, particularly in mission-critical environments where unified communications are essential for operations. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers can target these systems from anywhere on the network, potentially causing widespread disruption across enterprise networks. This type of vulnerability also creates opportunities for further exploitation as service crashes can sometimes be leveraged to establish footholds for more sophisticated attacks, making it a critical concern for cybersecurity teams managing unified communications environments.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant Cisco security patches and updates, specifically targeting the software versions mentioned in the CVE description. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit exposure of the affected CAPF service to only trusted networks and users. Monitoring and logging should be enhanced to detect unusual network traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-121, which addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and represents a common weakness in communication protocol implementations. Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar issues in other network services and communication infrastructure components, particularly those handling certificate management functions that are critical for enterprise security posture.