CVE-2014-1966 in Ruggedcom Rugged Operating System
Summary
by MITRE
The SNMP implementation in Siemens RuggedCom ROS before 3.11, ROS 3.11 for RS950G, ROS 3.12 before 3.12.4, and ROS 4.0 for RSG2488 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device outage) via crafted packets.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/01/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-1966 represents a critical denial of service flaw within the Simple Network Management Protocol implementation of Siemens RuggedCom ROS operating systems. This issue affects multiple versions of the RuggedCom ROS firmware including versions prior to 3.11, specific builds of ROS 3.11 for RS950G, versions before 3.12.4 of ROS 3.12, and ROS 4.0 for RSG2488 devices. The flaw resides in how these network management systems process incoming SNMP packets, creating a pathway for remote attackers to disrupt network operations through carefully crafted malicious packets.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the SNMP processing module of the affected Siemens devices. When the system receives specially constructed SNMP packets, the parsing logic fails to properly handle malformed or unexpected packet structures, leading to system instability and eventual device outage. This represents a classic buffer overflow or parsing error condition that can be exploited remotely without requiring authentication credentials. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which covers stack-based buffer overflow scenarios, though the specific implementation likely involves more complex parsing failures within the SNMP stack.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple network disruption to potentially compromise mission-critical infrastructure operations. RuggedCom devices are commonly deployed in industrial environments where network availability is paramount for operational continuity. A successful exploitation could result in complete device unavailability, forcing network administrators to perform manual restart procedures and potentially causing extended service interruptions. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can target these devices from anywhere on the network, making the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where physical security controls may be insufficient. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability component of the CIA triad and can be classified under the ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks.
Organizations utilizing affected Siemens RuggedCom devices should immediately implement mitigation strategies including firmware updates to the latest available versions that address this vulnerability. The manufacturer has released patches for all affected versions, and administrators should prioritize deployment of these updates through established change management procedures. Network segmentation and access control measures should be implemented to limit exposure of these devices to untrusted networks, while monitoring systems should be configured to detect anomalous SNMP traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify other potential weaknesses in the industrial network infrastructure that could be exploited in conjunction with this vulnerability.