CVE-2008-5284 in RadiusNT
Summary
by MITRE
The web server in IEA Software RadiusNT and RadiusX 5.1.38 and other versions before 5.1.44, Emerald 5.0.49 and other versions before 5.0.52, Air Marshal 2.0.4 and other versions before 2.0.8, and Radius test client (aka Radlogin) 4.0.20 and earlier, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via an HTTP Content-Length header with a negative value, which triggers a single byte overwrite of memory using a NULL terminator. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/12/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2008-5284 represents a critical memory corruption issue affecting multiple network authentication software products from IEA Software. This flaw manifests in the handling of HTTP Content-Length headers within various versions of RadiusNT, Emerald, Air Marshal, and Radius test client applications. The vulnerability specifically targets the web server components of these products, creating a pathway for remote attackers to exploit memory management weaknesses through carefully crafted HTTP requests. The issue stems from improper validation of the Content-Length header value, which when set to a negative number, triggers unexpected behavior in the application's memory handling routines.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a classic buffer overflow scenario where a negative Content-Length value causes the application to attempt to write beyond the bounds of allocated memory. This occurs because the software does not properly validate the header value before processing it, leading to a situation where a single byte overwrite happens when the application attempts to terminate a string with a NULL character. The flaw operates at the protocol level within HTTP request processing, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited through standard network traffic without requiring special privileges or authentication. The negative value in the Content-Length header effectively tricks the application into believing it should process a negative amount of data, which then causes the memory corruption when the application attempts to handle this invalid input.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a significant denial of service condition that can completely crash the affected applications, rendering network authentication services unavailable to legitimate users. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the memory corruption can potentially lead to system instability, application crashes, and in some cases, may provide a foothold for more sophisticated attacks. Network administrators and security teams face the challenge of identifying affected systems across their infrastructure, as the vulnerability spans multiple software products from the same vendor. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this weakness from anywhere on the network, making it particularly concerning for organizations with exposed web servers or authentication services.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to the patched versions mentioned in the advisory, implementing network segmentation to limit exposure, and deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious Content-Length header values. Additionally, input validation should be strengthened at all levels of the application stack to prevent similar issues in the future, and regular security assessments should be conducted to identify other potential memory corruption vulnerabilities in legacy systems. The affected products were all part of the IEA Software suite that provided network access control and authentication services, making this vulnerability particularly impactful for organizations relying on these systems for network security.