CVE-2013-1230 in Unified Communications Domain Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a flood of malformed UDP packets, aka Bug ID CSCug47057.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/26/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-1230 affects Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager, a critical component in enterprise communication infrastructure that manages and coordinates unified communications services across networked environments. This flaw represents a significant security weakness that can be exploited by remote attackers to disrupt normal system operations through resource exhaustion attacks. The vulnerability specifically targets the UDP packet processing mechanisms within the Domain Manager software, creating a pathway for malicious actors to consume excessive CPU resources and ultimately cause system-wide denial of service conditions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the UDP packet handling routines of the Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager. When the system receives malformed UDP packets, it fails to properly sanitize or reject these invalid data structures, leading to infinite processing loops or excessive computational overhead. The flaw manifests when the system attempts to parse and process malformed UDP packets without proper bounds checking or error handling mechanisms. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and represents a classic example of resource exhaustion through malformed packet injection. The attack vector requires only network access to the affected system, making it particularly dangerous as it can be executed from anywhere on the network without requiring authentication or privileged access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple service disruption, as the Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager serves as a foundational element for voice and video communication services within enterprise networks. When exploited successfully, the denial of service attack can result in complete communication outages for organizations relying on Cisco unified communications infrastructure, affecting critical business operations including phone systems, video conferencing, and collaborative communication platforms. The CPU consumption attack can render the system completely unresponsive, forcing administrators to perform manual restarts or implement emergency network segmentation measures. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability component of the CIA triad and can cause cascading failures throughout the unified communications ecosystem, potentially affecting multiple services simultaneously.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2013-1230 should prioritize immediate implementation of network-based protections including firewall rules and access control lists that filter UDP traffic to and from the affected system. Organizations should implement rate limiting mechanisms to prevent excessive UDP packet processing and deploy intrusion detection systems capable of identifying malformed packet patterns. Cisco has released security advisories and patches addressing this vulnerability, which should be applied immediately to all affected systems. Network segmentation strategies can isolate the Domain Manager from critical network segments to limit potential impact. The mitigation approach should align with ATT&CK technique T1498, which covers resource exhaustion attacks, and organizations should consider implementing monitoring solutions that track CPU utilization patterns to detect anomalous behavior indicative of this specific attack pattern. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify and remediate similar weaknesses in the broader unified communications infrastructure.