CVE-2015-8676 in S5300EI
Summary
by MITRE
Memory leak in Huawei S5300EI, S5300SI, S5310HI, S6300EI/ S2350EI, and S5300LI Campus series switches with software V200R001C00 before V200R001SPH018, V200R002C00 before V200R003SPH011, and V200R003C00 before V200R003SPH011; S9300, S7700, and S9700 Campus series switches with software V200R001C00 before V200R001SPH023, V200R002C00 before V200R003SPH011, and V200R003C00 before V200R003SPH011; and S2300 and S3300 Campus series switches with software V100R006C05 before V100R006SPH022 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and reboot) via a large number of ICMPv6 packets.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/24/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-8676 represents a critical memory leak flaw affecting multiple Huawei campus series network switches including S5300EI, S5300SI, S5310HI, S6300EI, S2350EI, S5300LI, S9300, S7700, S9700, S2300, and S3300 models. This issue stems from insufficient memory management within the switch's operating system handling of ICMPv6 protocol packets, creating a condition where the device's memory consumption gradually increases until system instability occurs. The vulnerability affects specific software versions across multiple release branches, with the affected ranges including V200R001C00 before V200R001SPH018, V200R002C00 before V200R003SPH011, V200R003C00 before V200R003SPH011, and V100R006C05 before V100R006SPH022, indicating a widespread impact across Huawei's network infrastructure products. The technical flaw manifests when the switch receives a large volume of ICMPv6 packets, which are processed without adequate memory deallocation mechanisms, leading to progressive memory exhaustion.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple performance degradation to constitute a full denial of service condition that can render network infrastructure completely non-operational. Remote attackers can exploit this weakness by flooding the affected switches with ICMPv6 packets, causing sustained memory consumption that eventually forces system reboots and network outages. This creates cascading effects throughout enterprise networks where these switches serve as critical core infrastructure components, potentially disrupting business operations and network connectivity for extended periods. The memory leak behavior aligns with CWE-401, which specifically addresses memory leaks in software systems, and represents a classic example of resource exhaustion attacks that can be executed remotely without requiring authentication or privileged access. The vulnerability demonstrates how protocol processing flaws in network equipment can be weaponized to create persistent service disruption conditions.
Network administrators and security professionals must understand that this vulnerability operates within the context of the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1499 technique category for network denial of service, specifically targeting the availability aspect of the CIA triad. The attack vector represents a remote network-based exploit that can be executed from anywhere on the internet, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with exposed network infrastructure. The memory consumption pattern suggests that the vulnerability affects the switch's packet processing queues and buffer management systems, where ICMPv6 packets are not properly freed from memory after processing, leading to progressive degradation of system resources. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including network segmentation to limit exposure, firewall rules to restrict ICMPv6 traffic, and network monitoring to detect unusual memory consumption patterns. The recommended remediation approach involves upgrading affected devices to patched software versions, which typically include improved memory management routines and enhanced packet processing controls that prevent the accumulation of unreleased memory blocks during ICMPv6 packet handling. Additionally, implementing rate limiting mechanisms and monitoring for abnormal ICMPv6 traffic patterns can provide early detection and prevention of exploitation attempts.