CVE-2010-4352 in DBus
Summary
by MITRE
Stack consumption vulnerability in D-Bus (aka DBus) before 1.4.1 allows local users to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via a message containing many nested variants.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/07/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-4352 represents a critical stack consumption issue within the D-Bus message bus system, specifically affecting versions prior to 1.4.1. This flaw resides in the daemon's message processing capabilities and demonstrates a classic example of a resource exhaustion attack vector that can be exploited to disrupt system services. The D-Bus system serves as a fundamental communication framework in many Linux-based operating systems, facilitating inter-process communication between applications and system services, making this vulnerability particularly concerning from a security perspective.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the D-Bus daemon's message parsing logic. When processing incoming messages containing deeply nested variant structures, the daemon fails to properly enforce stack usage limits, leading to excessive stack consumption during message handling. This behavior manifests as a stack overflow condition that ultimately results in daemon crash and subsequent denial of service. The vulnerability specifically targets the variant type handling within D-Bus messages, where nested variants can be constructed to consume increasingly large amounts of stack space with each additional nesting level.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to system availability and service integrity. Local attackers can exploit this weakness without requiring elevated privileges, making it particularly dangerous in multi-user environments where malicious users might attempt to disrupt system services. The daemon crash resulting from this vulnerability can lead to cascading failures affecting multiple dependent services that rely on D-Bus communication. System administrators may experience unexpected service interruptions, particularly in environments where D-Bus is heavily utilized for system management and application communication, potentially leading to extended downtime and service degradation.
The exploitation of this vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including privilege escalation through service disruption and resource exhaustion attacks. According to CWE classification, this represents a CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability, specifically manifesting as stack consumption without proper bounds checking. The attack vector operates entirely within the local system context, making it difficult to detect through traditional network-based monitoring approaches. Organizations should implement immediate patching procedures to address this vulnerability, as the D-Bus daemon typically runs with elevated privileges and maintains access to critical system resources.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate version upgrades to D-Bus 1.4.1 or later, which contain proper bounds checking and stack usage limits for nested variant processing. System administrators should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unusual stack consumption patterns and consider implementing message size limits for D-Bus communications. Additionally, regular security audits of D-Bus configurations and access controls should be performed to minimize the attack surface. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the importance of proper input validation and resource management in system-level components that handle untrusted data from local processes.