CVE-2010-4553 in Lotus Notes Traveler
Summary
by MITRE
An unspecified Domino API in IBM Lotus Notes Traveler before 8.5.1.1 does not properly handle MIME types, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/08/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-4553 affects IBM Lotus Notes Traveler versions prior to 8.5.1.1, specifically targeting an unspecified Domino API component that handles MIME type processing. This weakness resides within the server-side processing logic of the Lotus Notes Traveler service, which is designed to provide mobile email access to IBM Domino email servers. The flaw manifests when the system encounters malformed or improperly formatted MIME content during the processing of email messages, leading to unexpected behavior that can result in daemon crashes and subsequent denial of service conditions.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and error handling within the Domino API's MIME processing routines. When remote attackers submit specially crafted email messages containing malformed MIME structures, the Traveler service fails to properly sanitize or reject these inputs, causing the underlying daemon process to terminate unexpectedly. This represents a classic buffer overflow or parsing error scenario where the system does not adequately protect against malformed data inputs. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited remotely without requiring authentication, making it particularly dangerous in environments where the service is exposed to untrusted networks.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant disruption to email services for organizations relying on IBM Lotus Notes Traveler for mobile access. The daemon crashes result in immediate service degradation where mobile users lose access to their email accounts until the service is manually restarted or the system recovers automatically. The frequency and impact of these crashes can escalate rapidly in high-volume email environments, potentially affecting thousands of users simultaneously. Organizations may experience increased IT support requests, productivity losses, and potential business continuity issues when the service becomes unavailable. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to perform sustained denial of service attacks by repeatedly submitting malicious MIME content, amplifying the impact over time.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-4553 should prioritize immediate patching of affected IBM Lotus Notes Traveler installations to version 8.5.1.1 or later, which contains the necessary fixes for the MIME handling routines. Network administrators should implement additional protective measures including filtering of suspicious email content at network boundaries, implementing rate limiting on email processing to prevent abuse, and monitoring system logs for unusual daemon crash patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. Organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems to monitor for patterns consistent with this vulnerability and establish incident response procedures specifically addressing daemon crash scenarios. Regular vulnerability assessments and security testing of email infrastructure components are essential to identify similar weaknesses that may exist in other parts of the email ecosystem and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.