CVE-2010-1565 in PGW 2200 Softswitch
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the SIP implementation on the Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch with software 9.7(3)S before 9.7(3)S9 and 9.7(3)P before 9.7(3)P9 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (TCP socket exhaustion) via unknown vectors, aka Bug ID CSCsk13561.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/13/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2010-1565 represents a critical denial of service weakness within Cisco's PGW 2200 Softswitch SIP implementation. This issue specifically affects software versions 9.7(3)S prior to 9.7(3)S9 and 9.7(3)P prior to 9.7(3)P9, exposing systems to remote exploitation that can lead to complete service disruption. The vulnerability manifests as TCP socket exhaustion, a condition that fundamentally undermines the system's ability to maintain network connections and process incoming requests. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of resource exhaustion attacks, which are particularly dangerous because they can render systems completely unavailable without requiring sophisticated exploitation techniques.
The technical flaw lies within the SIP protocol handling mechanisms of the Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch, where improper management of TCP socket resources allows attackers to consume available connection slots through unspecified vectors. This vulnerability operates at the transport layer of the network stack, specifically targeting the TCP connection management subsystem that handles Session Initiation Protocol communications. The lack of specific details about the exact attack vectors makes this vulnerability particularly concerning as it suggests multiple potential pathways for exploitation, potentially including malformed SIP messages, connection rate manipulation, or session hijacking techniques that could exhaust the system's available socket capacity.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant business disruption risks for organizations relying on Cisco PGW 2200 Softswitch equipment for voice and multimedia communications. The TCP socket exhaustion condition can lead to complete service outages, preventing legitimate users from establishing connections and potentially causing cascading failures in interconnected communication systems. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this weakness from outside the network perimeter, eliminating the need for physical access or insider knowledge. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability component of the CIA triad and can be classified under CWE-400 as "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption" or "Resource Exhaustion," with potential ATT&CK framework mappings to T1499.004 for "Endpoint Denial of Service" and T1071.004 for "Application Layer Protocol: DNS."
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigation strategies including applying the relevant Cisco security patches and updates, configuring rate limiting on SIP traffic, implementing connection tracking mechanisms, and establishing monitoring protocols to detect unusual socket consumption patterns. Network segmentation and firewall rules can help limit the exposure of vulnerable systems, while regular security assessments should be conducted to identify potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of maintaining current security patches and following vendor security advisories, as this issue demonstrates how seemingly minor implementation flaws can lead to significant operational disruptions. Cisco's security advisory for this vulnerability would typically include specific software version requirements and configuration recommendations to address the TCP socket exhaustion issue through proper resource management and connection handling mechanisms.