CVE-2010-3071 in bip
Summary
by MITRE
bip before 0.8.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and daemon crash) via an empty USER command.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/27/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-3071 affects the bip software package version 0.8.6 and earlier, representing a critical denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely by malicious actors. This issue specifically manifests when the bip daemon processes an empty USER command, leading to a null pointer dereference condition that ultimately causes the service to crash and become unavailable to legitimate users. The bip software serves as a daemon for handling various network communications and protocol interactions, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for systems relying on its functionality.
The technical flaw stems from inadequate input validation within the bip daemon's command processing logic. When an empty USER command is received, the software fails to properly handle the null or empty string input, resulting in a null pointer dereference during subsequent processing operations. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of CWE-476 which specifically addresses null pointer dereference conditions in software implementations. The daemon's failure to validate command inputs before attempting to process them creates an exploitable path where remote attackers can craft malicious network requests containing empty USER commands to trigger the crash condition.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can be leveraged by attackers to systematically degrade service availability across affected systems. Network administrators and security professionals must recognize that this denial of service condition can be executed without requiring authentication or specialized privileges, making it particularly dangerous in environments where bip daemon services are exposed to untrusted networks. The crash condition affects the daemon's stability and can potentially be amplified through repeated exploitation attempts, leading to sustained service unavailability that impacts legitimate users and business operations. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks targeting services and daemons.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-3071 should prioritize immediate software updates to version 0.8.6 or later, which contain the necessary patches to address the null pointer dereference issue. Organizations should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of bip daemon services to untrusted networks, while also deploying intrusion detection systems that can monitor for suspicious USER command patterns. Input validation mechanisms should be enhanced to properly handle empty or malformed commands before they reach the core processing logic. Security teams should also consider implementing automated monitoring and alerting for daemon crash events, as well as maintaining detailed logs of command processing activities to aid in incident response efforts. Additionally, network administrators should regularly review and test their service availability to ensure that patched systems maintain proper operational functionality following remediation activities.