CVE-2015-1958 in MQ Light
Summary
by MITRE
IBM MQ Light before 1.0.0.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (disk consumption) via a crafted byte sequence in authentication data, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-1956 and CVE-2015-1987.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/04/2017
IBM MQ Light represents a lightweight messaging solution designed for mobile and IoT environments, providing simplified message queuing capabilities for distributed applications. This particular vulnerability affects versions prior to 1.0.0.2 and specifically targets the authentication mechanism within the messaging framework. The flaw manifests when the system processes crafted byte sequences within authentication data, leading to unexpected behavior that consumes excessive disk resources. The vulnerability operates at the application layer, leveraging malformed input to trigger resource exhaustion conditions that ultimately result in denial of service.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits weaknesses in the authentication data processing pipeline where the system fails to properly validate or sanitize incoming byte sequences. When an attacker submits carefully constructed authentication data containing malicious byte patterns, the MQ Light service enters a state where it continuously consumes disk space without proper bounds checking or resource management. This behavior differs significantly from related vulnerabilities CVE-2015-1956 and CVE-2015-1987, which targeted different aspects of the system architecture. The flaw resides in the protocol handling layer where authentication credentials are parsed and validated, creating a path for resource exhaustion through malformed input processing.
Operationally, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to systems relying on IBM MQ Light for message routing and communication. Attackers can exploit this weakness to consume disk space rapidly, potentially leading to complete system unavailability or degraded performance that affects legitimate users. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the resource consumption can affect other system processes and may require manual intervention to recover. Organizations using vulnerable versions face potential business continuity issues, particularly in environments where disk space is limited or where the messaging infrastructure supports critical operations. The vulnerability can be particularly dangerous in IoT deployments where devices may have constrained storage capacity and limited administrative access for recovery.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-400, concerning unchecked resource consumption. From an adversarial perspective, this flaw maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.001 which covers network denial of service attacks through resource exhaustion. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to IBM MQ Light version 1.0.0.2 or later, which contains patches addressing the authentication data validation issues. Additional protective measures include implementing network segmentation to limit access to the messaging service, monitoring disk usage patterns for anomalous consumption, and establishing automated alerting systems for resource exhaustion conditions. Security teams should also review authentication mechanisms and implement proper input sanitization practices to prevent similar vulnerabilities in other components of their messaging infrastructure.