CVE-2013-20004 in iSCSI SAN
Summary
by MITRE • 02/07/2022
StarWind iSCSI SAN before 6.0 build 2013-03-20 allows a memory leak.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/11/2022
The StarWind iSCSI SAN software represents a critical infrastructure component that provides storage area network services to enterprise environments. This vulnerability affects versions prior to 6.0 build 2013-03-20, indicating a long-standing issue that persisted across multiple releases. The memory leak vulnerability specifically impacts the software's resource management capabilities, where allocated memory is not properly released back to the system after use. This type of vulnerability falls under the broader category of memory management flaws that can severely impact system stability and performance over time. The iSCSI protocol implementation within StarWind serves as a bridge between storage devices and networked computing environments, making it a prime target for attackers seeking to disrupt storage services.
The technical flaw manifests as improper memory deallocation within the software's processing routines, where memory blocks allocated for handling iSCSI connections, storage operations, or administrative tasks are not correctly freed from the system's virtual memory pool. This memory leak can occur during routine operations such as connection establishment, data transfer, or configuration changes within the iSCSI SAN environment. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because iSCSI SAN implementations typically run continuously in production environments, providing persistent storage services to multiple clients and applications. As the memory leak accumulates over time, it leads to progressive system resource exhaustion, eventually causing service degradation or complete system failure.
The operational impact of this memory leak vulnerability extends beyond simple performance degradation to encompass potential service outages and system instability. In enterprise environments where StarWind iSCSI SAN is deployed, sustained memory consumption can result in system crashes, application timeouts, or complete service disruption. The vulnerability affects the software's ability to maintain stable operations over extended periods, particularly under load conditions where multiple iSCSI connections are active simultaneously. Network administrators may observe gradual performance decline, increased system response times, or intermittent connectivity issues that correlate with the accumulation of leaked memory. The vulnerability also creates potential attack vectors where malicious actors could exploit the memory leak to cause denial of service conditions, making it particularly dangerous in production environments.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate software updates to versions 6.0 build 2013-03-20 or later, which contain the necessary memory management fixes. System administrators should implement monitoring solutions to track memory consumption patterns and identify early signs of memory leak accumulation. The fix addresses the underlying memory management routines and ensures proper deallocation of resources during normal operational procedures. Organizations should also consider implementing regular system maintenance schedules to minimize the impact of memory leaks, including scheduled restarts of affected services to clear accumulated memory. From a security perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-401, which specifically addresses memory leaks in software implementations. The remediation process should include thorough testing of updated software in staging environments to ensure compatibility with existing storage configurations and network topologies. Additionally, organizations should review their incident response procedures to address potential service disruptions caused by memory-related issues in storage infrastructure components.