CVE-2015-0579 in TelePresence Video Communication Server
Summary
by MITRE
Cisco TelePresence Video Communication Server (VCS) and Cisco Expressway allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption, and partial outage) via crafted SIP packets, aka Bug ID CSCur12473.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/09/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-0579 affects Cisco TelePresence Video Communication Server (VCS) and Cisco Expressway products, representing a significant denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely by attackers. This flaw specifically targets the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) processing capabilities within these communication systems, which are critical components for video conferencing and unified communications infrastructure. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and resource management within the SIP message handling mechanisms, allowing malicious actors to craft specially formatted packets that trigger excessive resource consumption.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the exploitation of buffer overflow conditions and memory allocation issues within the SIP processing stack of affected Cisco products. When the system receives crafted SIP packets containing malformed or excessively large parameters, it fails to properly validate the incoming data before processing. This leads to continuous memory allocation without proper cleanup, causing gradual memory exhaustion and CPU overutilization. The vulnerability operates at the network protocol level, specifically targeting the SIP signaling channel that manages video communication sessions, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise communication infrastructures where these systems serve as core components.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-0579 extends beyond simple service disruption to create cascading failures within unified communications environments. Organizations relying on Cisco VCS and Expressway systems experience partial outages that can severely impact business continuity, especially in mission-critical scenarios where video conferencing is essential for remote collaboration. The memory and CPU consumption patterns caused by this vulnerability can lead to system instability, application crashes, and complete service unavailability. Attackers can maintain persistent denial of service conditions by repeatedly sending malformed SIP packets, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous for continuous operation environments and requiring immediate remediation efforts.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which covers heap-based buffer overflow scenarios, both of which are fundamental weaknesses in memory management that directly contribute to the exploitation path. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1499.004, specifically targeting network denial of service through protocol manipulation, and T1566.001, which involves social engineering through malicious network protocols. The attack surface is particularly broad as these Cisco systems are deployed across enterprise networks, healthcare institutions, financial services, and government agencies where communication reliability is paramount, making the potential impact of exploitation widespread and severe.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to isolate affected systems, deployment of intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious SIP traffic patterns, and application of Cisco's security patches and updates. Network administrators should configure rate limiting and packet filtering rules to restrict malformed SIP traffic, while also implementing proper monitoring of system resource utilization to detect early signs of exploitation. The vulnerability underscores the importance of regular security assessments and vulnerability management programs, particularly for critical communication infrastructure components that handle sensitive data and support essential business operations.