CVE-2014-8950 in Security Gateway
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Check Point Security Gateway R77 and R77.10, when the (1) URL Filtering or (2) Identity Awareness blade is used, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via vectors involving an HTTPS request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/13/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-8950 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting Check Point Security Gateway versions R77 and R77.10. This weakness specifically manifests when utilizing either the URL Filtering or Identity Awareness security blades, creating a pathway for remote attackers to disrupt system operations through carefully crafted HTTPS requests. The vulnerability falls under the broader category of software defects that can lead to system instability and service interruption, with implications for network security infrastructure reliability.
The technical nature of this flaw involves improper handling of HTTPS requests within the affected security gateway components. When an attacker submits maliciously constructed HTTPS traffic to a vulnerable system, the security gateway's processing mechanisms fail to properly validate or handle the request, resulting in a system crash or complete service disruption. This represents a classic buffer overflow or input validation vulnerability that has been classified under CWE-119, which encompasses weaknesses related to memory safety and improper handling of input data. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access or local privileges to trigger the malicious behavior, making it particularly dangerous in networked environments.
The operational impact of CVE-2014-8950 extends beyond simple service interruption to potentially compromise entire network security infrastructures. Organizations relying on Check Point Security Gateway for their perimeter protection may experience significant downtime when this vulnerability is exploited, potentially leaving their networks exposed to additional attacks during the recovery period. The attack vector through HTTPS requests suggests that this vulnerability could be exploited through standard web browsing activities, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments where users frequently access web-based applications. From an adversarial perspective, this weakness aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks, and represents a critical target for threat actors seeking to disrupt business operations.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches released by Check Point, implementing network segmentation to limit exposure, and deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious HTTPS traffic patterns. The vulnerability's classification as a denial of service weakness indicates that traditional security measures may not prevent exploitation, requiring additional defensive strategies such as rate limiting for HTTPS requests and implementing redundant security infrastructure to maintain service availability. Security teams should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any other potentially affected systems within their network infrastructure and ensure that proper monitoring and alerting mechanisms are in place to detect exploitation attempts.