CVE-2010-4552 in Lotus Notes Traveler
Summary
by MITRE
Memory leak in IBM Lotus Notes Traveler before 8.5.1.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and daemon outage) by sending many embedded objects in e-mail messages for iPhone clients.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/09/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-4552 represents a critical memory leak flaw in IBM Lotus Notes Traveler software versions prior to 8.5.1.1 that specifically targets mobile email clients, particularly those accessing email through iPhone devices. This issue stems from the improper handling of embedded objects within email messages, creating a condition where the system continuously allocates memory without proper deallocation during the processing of malformed email content. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically affects the mobile synchronization service that enables email access on mobile devices through the Lotus Notes Traveler platform.
The technical implementation of this memory leak occurs when the Lotus Notes Traveler daemon processes email messages containing numerous embedded objects such as images, attachments, or rich text elements that are specifically formatted to trigger memory allocation without subsequent release. Attackers exploit this by crafting specially designed email messages that contain excessive embedded objects, which when processed by the vulnerable daemon cause progressive memory consumption that eventually leads to system resource exhaustion. This behavior aligns with CWE-401, which categorizes memory leaks as a fundamental weakness in software design where allocated memory is not properly deallocated, resulting in resource exhaustion. The daemon's failure to implement proper memory management protocols when handling mobile client requests creates an exploitable condition that can be remotely triggered through email submission.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple resource exhaustion to encompass complete service disruption for affected organizations. When the memory leak occurs, the Lotus Notes Traveler daemon experiences progressive memory consumption that can lead to daemon crashes, system instability, and complete service outages for mobile email access. This creates significant business continuity issues for organizations relying on mobile email synchronization, as users lose access to their email services on iPhone devices and potentially other supported mobile platforms. The vulnerability affects organizations that depend on IBM Lotus Notes Traveler for mobile email synchronization, with the impact being most severe in environments where mobile email access is critical for business operations, potentially affecting productivity and communication continuity.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to IBM Lotus Notes Traveler version 8.5.1.1 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the memory leak issue. Additionally, administrators should consider implementing email filtering rules to limit the number of embedded objects in incoming messages, particularly for mobile email clients. Network monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual memory consumption patterns in the Lotus Notes Traveler service, and system administrators should establish automated alerts for memory usage thresholds. The mitigation strategy should also include implementing rate limiting for email processing and establishing proper memory management monitoring for the daemon process. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper resource management in server applications and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers resource exhaustion attacks targeting service availability through memory consumption. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of the vulnerable service to untrusted networks, as the vulnerability can be exploited remotely through email submission without requiring authentication or prior access to the system.