CVE-2015-6310 in Unified Communications Manager
Summary
by MITRE
The REST interface in Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service 11.5(1) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (SIP proxy service restart) via a crafted HTTP request, aka Bug ID CSCuw31632.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/20/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-6310 affects the REST interface implementation within Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service version 11.5(1). This security flaw resides in the SIP proxy service component that manages instant messaging and presence functionality within Cisco's unified communications infrastructure. The vulnerability manifests through improper input validation mechanisms within the REST API handling layer, creating a path for malicious actors to exploit the system's response processing capabilities.
The technical exploitation occurs when remote attackers submit specially crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable REST interface. These malformed requests trigger an unexpected behavior in the SIP proxy service that results in an automatic service restart. The flaw demonstrates characteristics of a resource exhaustion or service disruption attack pattern where the system's normal operational flow is interrupted through malformed protocol handling. The vulnerability specifically impacts the SIP proxy service which is critical for maintaining real-time communication sessions and presence status updates within the unified communications environment.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability represents a significant threat to business continuity and communication availability. The denial of service condition causes the SIP proxy service to restart automatically, disrupting ongoing instant messaging sessions, presence updates, and real-time communication capabilities for all users within the affected system. The restart process can result in temporary loss of service for minutes, potentially affecting critical business operations that rely on real-time communication infrastructure. Organizations utilizing this service may experience communication outages that could impact customer service, internal collaboration, and emergency response capabilities.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which addresses buffer overflow conditions in programming environments, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-400, representing unspecified resource management issues. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1499.004 which covers network disruption attacks and T1566.001 which encompasses spearphishing with social engineering techniques. The attack vector requires network access to the affected REST interface, making it accessible to remote adversaries who can leverage this weakness to systematically disrupt communication services. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to the REST interface and deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious HTTP request patterns.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate deployment of Cisco's official security patches and updates addressing this specific vulnerability. Network administrators should restrict access to the REST interface through firewall rules and implement strict access controls limiting which systems can communicate with the affected service. The implementation of rate limiting and request validation mechanisms can help prevent exploitation attempts by monitoring and controlling the volume and format of incoming HTTP requests. Regular security assessments should be conducted to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities in other components of the unified communications infrastructure. Additionally, organizations should maintain comprehensive incident response procedures to quickly address service disruptions and implement monitoring solutions that can detect and alert on abnormal service restart patterns.