CVE-2010-0590 in Unified Communications Manager
Summary
by MITRE
The CMSIPUtility component in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (aka CUCM, formerly CallManager) 7.x before 7.1(3a)su1 and 8.x before 8.0(1) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (process failure) via a malformed SIP Register message, aka Bug ID CSCtc37188.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/01/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-0590 affects the CMSIPUtility component within Cisco Unified Communications Manager, a critical enterprise communication platform that manages voice and video communications. This issue specifically targets versions 7.x prior to 7.1(3a)su1 and 8.x prior to 8.0(1), representing a significant security gap in Cisco's unified communications infrastructure that could be exploited by remote threat actors. The vulnerability manifests through a carefully crafted malformed SIP Register message that can trigger process failures within the affected system, leading to complete service disruption. This represents a classic denial of service attack vector that exploits protocol parsing weaknesses in the signaling component of the communication system, fundamentally undermining the availability of critical business communications infrastructure.
The technical flaw resides in the insufficient input validation mechanisms within the CMSIPUtility component, which fails to properly sanitize and validate incoming SIP Register messages. When a malformed SIP Register message is received, the system's parsing routine encounters unexpected data structures or malformed headers that cause the process to crash or become unresponsive. This vulnerability operates at the application layer of the network stack, specifically targeting the Session Initiation Protocol implementation within the Cisco Unified Communications Manager. The issue demonstrates a lack of proper error handling and input sanitization that allows malicious actors to inject crafted data that bypasses normal protocol validation checks, resulting in the termination of critical communication processes. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and represents a common pattern in telecommunications software where protocol handlers fail to account for malformed or unexpected input sequences.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise business continuity and communication availability within enterprise environments. Organizations relying on Cisco Unified Communications Manager for their voice infrastructure face significant risk when exposed to this vulnerability, as the denial of service can affect thousands of users simultaneously across multiple communication endpoints. The attack requires minimal privileges and can be executed remotely without authentication, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with exposed communication systems. In enterprise environments, this vulnerability could result in complete communication outages during critical business hours, potentially affecting customer service operations, emergency communication systems, and internal business processes that depend on reliable voice and video infrastructure. The impact is exacerbated by the fact that the vulnerability affects multiple versions of the software, requiring comprehensive patch management across various system deployments.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-0590 must address both immediate protection and long-term system hardening measures. Organizations should prioritize applying the vendor-supplied patches and updates for Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions 7.1(3a)su1 and 8.0(1) to resolve the underlying parsing vulnerability. Network-level protections should include implementing SIP-specific firewalls and intrusion detection systems that can identify and block malformed SIP traffic patterns before they reach the target system. The implementation of rate limiting and connection throttling mechanisms can help reduce the effectiveness of denial of service attacks by limiting the volume of potentially malicious requests. Additionally, organizations should consider deploying network segmentation strategies to isolate critical communication infrastructure from potentially untrusted network segments, reducing the attack surface for remote exploitation attempts. From an operational perspective, regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar parsing vulnerabilities within the communication infrastructure, aligning with ATT&CK framework techniques related to privilege escalation and defense evasion through service disruption attacks. The vulnerability also underscores the importance of implementing robust monitoring and alerting mechanisms that can quickly detect process failures and abnormal communication patterns indicative of exploitation attempts.