CVE-2014-8652 in Elipse
Summary
by MITRE
Elipse E3 3.x and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash and plant outage) via a rapid series of HTTP requests to index.html on TCP port 1681.
Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/09/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-8652 affects Elipse E3 software versions 3.x and earlier, representing a significant security flaw that enables remote attackers to execute denial of service attacks against industrial control systems. This vulnerability specifically targets the HTTP server component running on TCP port 1681, which is commonly used for web-based monitoring and configuration of industrial automation systems. The affected system operates within critical infrastructure environments where reliability and continuous operation are paramount, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can lead to complete plant outages.
The technical flaw manifests through a specific pattern of network traffic that exploits a weakness in the HTTP request handling mechanism of the Elipse E3 software. When attackers send a rapid series of HTTP requests to the index.html endpoint on port 1681, the application fails to properly process these requests, leading to memory corruption or resource exhaustion that ultimately causes the application to crash. This behavior represents a classic buffer overflow or input validation vulnerability where the software does not adequately sanitize or limit the rate of incoming HTTP requests. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of length of input data, and CWE-134, which addresses format string vulnerabilities that can occur when user input is used as format strings without proper validation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can result in complete plant outages that have cascading effects on industrial operations. In industrial control environments, the Elipse E3 software typically serves as a web interface for monitoring and controlling critical processes, making the application crash a severe event that can halt production lines, compromise safety systems, and potentially lead to hazardous conditions. The rapid nature of the attack means that even a small number of concurrent attackers can effectively disable the system, while the timing of the attacks can be strategically chosen to maximize operational disruption. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability aspect of the CIA triad and can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-8652 should focus on both immediate protective measures and long-term system hardening. Network-level protections such as implementing rate limiting on TCP port 1681, deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for unusual traffic patterns, and configuring firewalls to restrict access to this port from trusted networks only provide effective immediate defenses. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation to isolate industrial control systems from general network access, reducing the attack surface for remote exploitation. The most effective long-term solution involves upgrading to Elipse E3 versions that have patched this vulnerability, as the original software versions contain fundamental design flaws that cannot be adequately mitigated through network controls alone. Additionally, implementing proper monitoring and alerting for application crashes, along with establishing incident response procedures for dealing with denial of service events, ensures that organizations can quickly detect and respond to exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date industrial control system software and highlights the need for comprehensive security assessments of operational technology environments to identify and remediate similar weaknesses.