CVE-2010-4593 in Lotus Mobile Connect
Summary
by MITRE
The Connection Manager in IBM Lotus Mobile Connect before 6.1.4 does not properly maintain a certain reference count, which allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (IP address exhaustion) by making invalid attempts to establish sessions with the same VPN ID from multiple devices.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/08/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-4593 resides within IBM Lotus Mobile Connect's Connection Manager component, specifically affecting versions prior to 6.1.4. This flaw represents a critical design oversight in how the system manages session references and connection states, creating a pathway for malicious actors to disrupt service availability. The vulnerability operates through a reference counting mechanism that fails to properly decrement counters when invalid session attempts occur, leading to resource exhaustion over time. This issue affects organizations relying on mobile connectivity solutions for enterprise communications and remote access services.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper handling of reference counts within the Connection Manager's session management subsystem. When authenticated users attempt to establish connections using the same VPN ID from multiple devices, the system fails to correctly maintain the reference count for active connections. Each failed connection attempt maintains a reference to the VPN ID, and these references accumulate without proper cleanup. The flaw specifically manifests when multiple invalid session establishment attempts are made, causing the system to allocate resources for each failed attempt without releasing them. This results in a gradual depletion of available IP address resources within the connection manager's address pool. The reference counting error creates a resource leak scenario that can be exploited systematically to exhaust the available IP addresses used for session management, ultimately leading to denial of service conditions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to encompass significant business continuity risks for organizations utilizing IBM Lotus Mobile Connect for mobile enterprise communications. Attackers can systematically consume available IP addresses through repeated invalid connection attempts, effectively preventing legitimate users from establishing valid sessions. This creates a scenario where authorized users cannot access corporate resources through mobile connections, potentially disrupting critical business operations. The vulnerability affects organizations that depend on mobile connectivity for remote work, field service operations, and mobile workforce management. The denial of service condition impacts not only user experience but also increases administrative overhead as system administrators must identify and resolve the resource exhaustion issues. Additionally, this vulnerability can serve as a precursor to more sophisticated attacks, as the system's instability may create opportunities for further exploitation or as a distraction during other attack phases.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patch for IBM Lotus Mobile Connect version 6.1.4 or later, which addresses the reference counting flaw in the Connection Manager component. Network segmentation and rate limiting controls should be deployed to restrict the number of connection attempts from individual devices or IP addresses, preventing rapid exhaustion of available resources. Monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect unusual patterns of connection attempts and reference count anomalies, providing early warning of potential exploitation attempts. Access controls should be strengthened to ensure that only authorized users can establish connections, reducing the attack surface for this vulnerability. System administrators should also consider implementing automated resource cleanup mechanisms that can detect and release stale references to prevent accumulation of invalid connection states. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-404, which describes improper resource management, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security controls to protect against resource exhaustion attacks.