CVE-2010-4265 in JBoss Remoting
Summary
by MITRE
The org.jboss.remoting.transport.bisocket.BisocketServerInvoker$SecondaryServerSocketThread.run method in JBoss Remoting 2.2.x before 2.2.3.SP4 and 2.5.x before 2.5.3.SP2 in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (aka JBoss EAP or JBEAP) 4.3 through 4.3.0.CP09 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon outage) by establishing a bisocket control connection TCP session, and then not sending any application data, related to a missing CVE-2010-3862 patch. NOTE: this can be considered a duplicate of CVE-2010-3862 because a missing patch should not be assigned a separate CVE identifier.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/07/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2010-4265 represents a critical denial of service weakness within the JBoss Remoting framework that affects Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform versions 4.3 through 4.3.0.CP09. This flaw specifically targets the bisocket transport mechanism that enables bidirectional communication between client and server components. The vulnerability stems from the improper handling of TCP connections in the BisocketServerInvoker class, where the SecondaryServerSocketThread fails to properly manage idle connections that remain open without transmitting application data. This condition creates a resource exhaustion scenario that can lead to complete daemon outages and system unavailability.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in the org.jboss.remoting.transport.bisocket.BisocketServerInvoker$SecondaryServerSocketThread.run method, which operates as a background thread responsible for managing secondary socket connections in the bisocket communication model. When a client establishes a control connection through the bisocket protocol but fails to send any application-level data, the server thread continues to maintain this connection in a waiting state indefinitely. The absence of proper timeout mechanisms or connection validation allows these dormant sessions to accumulate and consume system resources including memory, file descriptors, and thread pool capacity. This behavior directly violates the principle of resource management and connection lifecycle handling that should be enforced in enterprise application servers.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to enterprise environments relying on JBoss EAP for critical business applications. The denial of service condition can result in complete application server unavailability, affecting multiple concurrent users and business processes that depend on the platform. Attackers can exploit this weakness by establishing numerous control connections and leaving them idle, effectively consuming server resources and preventing legitimate connections from being established. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the transport layer level, making it difficult to detect and mitigate through application-level security measures. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise business continuity and customer satisfaction in production environments.
The remediation strategy for this vulnerability requires immediate implementation of the security patches released by Red Hat for JBoss EAP 4.3 through 4.3.0.CP09, specifically addressing versions 2.2.3.SP4 and 2.5.3.SP2 of the JBoss Remoting library. Organizations should ensure that all affected systems receive the appropriate updates and that proper connection timeout configurations are implemented to prevent resource exhaustion. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400 weakness category related to resource exhaustion and represents a specific instance of improper resource management within network communication frameworks. From an attack mitigation standpoint, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which involves network disruption through resource exhaustion attacks, and T1566.001 which covers phishing with malicious attachments or links that could be used to establish the initial control connections. Network monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual connection patterns and idle session accumulation that may indicate exploitation attempts. Organizations should also implement connection pooling and resource limiting mechanisms to prevent similar vulnerabilities from affecting other components of their enterprise infrastructure.