CVE-2014-2852 in OpenAFS
Summary
by MITRE
OpenAFS before 1.6.7 delays the listen thread when an RXS_CheckResponse fails, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (performance degradation) via an invalid packet.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/10/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-2852 affects OpenAFS versions prior to 1.6.7 and represents a significant denial of service weakness that impacts the performance and availability of the distributed file system. OpenAFS, a widely deployed distributed filesystem, is designed to provide transparent access to files across networked computers while maintaining security through authentication and authorization mechanisms. This particular flaw resides within the RXS_CheckResponse function which is responsible for validating responses in the remote execution protocol that OpenAFS employs for communication between client and server components. The vulnerability occurs when the system encounters an invalid packet during the response validation process, triggering an unintended delay in the listen thread that handles incoming network connections.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the improper handling of error conditions within the RXS_CheckResponse function. When an invalid packet is received, the system fails to immediately process or discard the malformed data, instead allowing the listen thread to remain blocked or delayed in its processing cycle. This behavior creates a performance degradation scenario where legitimate requests may experience increased response times or become temporarily unresponsive. The flaw essentially causes a resource contention issue where the system's ability to process new incoming connections or requests is compromised, leading to a cascading effect that can eventually result in complete service unavailability. The delay mechanism is not properly bounded, allowing attackers to repeatedly send malformed packets to maintain the degraded state indefinitely.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a substantial risk to organizations relying on OpenAFS for critical file storage and sharing operations. The denial of service impact can severely disrupt business continuity, particularly in environments where large volumes of file operations occur simultaneously. Attackers can exploit this weakness by sending carefully crafted invalid packets to the OpenAFS server, causing the system to spend excessive time processing these malformed responses rather than handling legitimate client requests. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires minimal effort to exploit and can be sustained over time, making it an attractive target for persistent denial of service attacks. The performance degradation can manifest as slower file access times, increased latency in file operations, and ultimately complete service disruption that affects all users within the distributed filesystem environment.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to OpenAFS version 1.6.7 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the thread delay issue in RXS_CheckResponse. Network-level protections such as packet filtering rules can be implemented to restrict access to the OpenAFS ports and implement rate limiting to prevent excessive malformed packet flooding. System administrators should also consider implementing monitoring solutions that can detect unusual patterns in network traffic or system resource utilization that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which covers unspecified resource management issues, and can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. Additionally, this weakness demonstrates characteristics of CWE-682, involving incorrect use of arithmetic, which relates to the improper handling of response validation and thread management within the protocol implementation. Proper security configuration and regular vulnerability assessments should be conducted to ensure that all OpenAFS components are maintained at supported versions to prevent exploitation of similar issues in the future.