CVE-2016-1467 in Videoscape Session Resource Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cisco Videoscape Session Resource Manager (VSRM) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device restart) by sending a traffic flood to upstream devices, aka Bug ID CSCva01813.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/11/2019
The Cisco Videoscape Session Resource Manager (VSRM) vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-1467 represents a significant denial of service weakness that affects network infrastructure devices. This vulnerability specifically targets the session resource management functionality within Cisco's video streaming platform, creating a pathway for remote attackers to disrupt service availability. The flaw manifests when malicious actors flood upstream network devices with excessive traffic patterns, triggering cascading failures that ultimately result in device restarts and complete service interruption. This vulnerability falls under the broader category of resource exhaustion attacks, where attackers exploit insufficient input validation and traffic handling mechanisms to overwhelm system resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate traffic filtering and resource management within the VSRM component. When upstream devices receive malformed or excessive traffic patterns, the system fails to properly handle these inputs, leading to memory exhaustion or process starvation conditions. The attack vector operates through network traffic flooding that bypasses normal traffic validation procedures, allowing malicious packets to trigger system-level failures. This weakness demonstrates poor defensive programming practices and insufficient rate limiting mechanisms within the device's traffic processing pipeline. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it operates at the network infrastructure level, potentially affecting entire video delivery networks that rely on Cisco's VSRM for session management.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-1467 extends beyond simple service disruption to encompass broader network reliability concerns and potential business continuity issues. Organizations utilizing Cisco Videoscape systems face the risk of unauthorized service interruption that could affect thousands of concurrent users accessing video content through the affected network infrastructure. The automatic device restart behavior creates a cascading effect where network stability is compromised, potentially leading to extended outages while systems attempt to recover from the resource exhaustion conditions. Network administrators must contend with the challenge of identifying and mitigating attacks that appear as legitimate traffic patterns, making this vulnerability particularly difficult to defend against without proper monitoring and traffic analysis capabilities.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should encompass multiple defensive layers including network traffic filtering, rate limiting implementations, and enhanced monitoring systems. Organizations should implement ingress and egress filtering rules to prevent malformed traffic patterns from reaching affected devices, while also deploying traffic shaping mechanisms to limit the volume of incoming requests. The implementation of intrusion detection systems with signature-based detection capabilities can help identify and block malicious traffic patterns associated with this vulnerability. Additionally, network segmentation and access control measures should be strengthened to limit the potential attack surface and reduce the impact of successful exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which addresses resource exhaustion issues, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. Regular firmware updates and security patches from Cisco should be implemented immediately to address the root cause of the vulnerability and restore proper traffic handling mechanisms within the affected systems.