CVE-2012-1346 in Emergency Responder
Summary
by MITRE
Cisco Emergency Responder 8.6 and 9.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) by sending malformed UDP packets to the CERPT port, aka Bug ID CSCtx38369.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/17/2018
Cisco Emergency Responder versions 8.6 and 9.2 contain a critical vulnerability that enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks through carefully crafted UDP packet manipulation. This vulnerability specifically targets the CERPT port, which serves as a communication endpoint for emergency responder functionality within Cisco's unified communications infrastructure. The flaw stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms that fail to properly handle malformed UDP packets, allowing malicious actors to exploit the system's processing logic and consume excessive CPU resources. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-129 as an insufficient input validation issue, where the system does not adequately verify the integrity and format of incoming network traffic before processing it. This weakness creates a direct pathway for attackers to leverage the system's processing capabilities against itself, resulting in sustained high CPU utilization that can render the emergency responder services unavailable to legitimate users. The attack vector operates through remote network access, requiring no authentication or privileged access to execute the denial of service condition, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where emergency response systems must remain continuously available. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the sustained CPU consumption can affect overall system performance and potentially impact other critical network services that depend on the same infrastructure. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1498 which describes resource exhaustion attacks, specifically targeting network services through malformed packet delivery. The flaw represents a fundamental design weakness in the packet processing logic where the system lacks proper bounds checking and error handling mechanisms for UDP traffic received on the designated CERPT port. Organizations utilizing these Cisco Emergency Responder versions face significant operational risks as emergency services may become unavailable during critical incidents, potentially leading to life-threatening consequences in scenarios where rapid response is essential. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input validation in network services and highlights how seemingly minor implementation gaps can create substantial security risks in mission-critical applications. The attack scenario typically involves sending specially crafted UDP packets to the CERPT port at regular intervals, causing the system to continuously process malformed data and consume increasing amounts of CPU cycles. This behavior creates a sustained denial of service condition that can persist until the affected system is manually restarted or the network traffic is filtered at the perimeter. Security professionals should consider implementing network access control lists or firewall rules to restrict access to the CERPT port from untrusted networks, while also applying the appropriate vendor security patches to address the underlying validation flaw. The vulnerability underscores the necessity of regular security assessments and vulnerability management processes to identify and remediate similar weaknesses in network infrastructure components that handle external communications. Organizations should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unusual CPU utilization patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, as the vulnerability's impact is measurable through standard system performance metrics and can be used as an indicator of compromise. The remediation approach requires immediate patch deployment from Cisco, which addresses the input validation deficiencies in the UDP packet handling logic and ensures proper error conditions are managed without consuming excessive system resources. This vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of secure coding practices and the need for comprehensive testing of network service implementations against malformed input conditions.