CVE-2016-8784 in CloudEngine
Summary
by MITRE
Huawei CloudEngine 12800 V100R003C00, V100R003C10, V100R005C00, V100R005C10, V100R006C00 have a memory leak vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker may send specific Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) packets to the devices. When the values of some parameters in the packet are abnormal, the LDP processing module does not release the memory to handle the packet, resulting in memory leak.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/17/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-8784 affects Huawei CloudEngine 12800 series network switches running specific firmware versions including V100R003C00, V100R003C10, V100R005C00, V100R005C10, and V100R006C00. This memory leak vulnerability resides within the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) processing module of these network devices, representing a critical security weakness that can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers without requiring any credentials or prior access to the system. The vulnerability specifically targets the handling of LDP packets, which are essential for establishing and maintaining Label Switched Paths in MPLS networks, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise and service provider networks that rely heavily on MPLS infrastructure for traffic engineering and quality of service implementation.
The technical flaw manifests when an attacker crafts and sends specially crafted LDP packets containing abnormal parameter values to the affected Huawei switches. The LDP processing module in these devices fails to properly release allocated memory resources when encountering malformed or unexpected parameter values in the received packets. This improper memory management behavior results in gradual memory consumption over time, as the system continuously allocates memory for processing these malformed packets without subsequently freeing the memory back to the system. The vulnerability is classified as a memory leak under CWE-401, which specifically addresses the failure to release memory resources, and represents a common yet critical class of software defects that can lead to system instability and potential denial of service conditions. The issue stems from inadequate input validation and memory management practices within the LDP implementation, where the software does not properly handle edge cases or malformed data inputs.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple memory consumption, as it can lead to significant service degradation and potential system crashes on affected Huawei CloudEngine 12800 switches. Network administrators may observe gradual performance degradation, increased CPU utilization, and eventually complete system instability or reboot cycles as memory resources become exhausted. In enterprise environments where these switches serve as core network infrastructure components, such memory leaks can result in widespread network disruption, particularly during peak traffic periods when memory pressure is already high. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in service provider networks where MPLS traffic engineering is extensively used, as it could lead to routing instability and potential loss of network connectivity for critical business applications. This issue aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks, and represents a classic example of how memory management flaws can be exploited to create persistent system instability.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-8784 should include immediate firmware updates from Huawei to address the memory leak issue in the LDP processing module. Network administrators should also implement network segmentation and access control measures to limit exposure to potentially malicious LDP traffic, particularly by filtering LDP packets at network boundaries and implementing rate limiting for LDP communications. The vulnerability can be addressed through the application of Huawei's official security patches and firmware updates that contain proper memory management fixes for the LDP processing module. Additionally, monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual memory consumption patterns and CPU utilization spikes that may indicate exploitation attempts. Network engineers should consider implementing LDP peer authentication and using secure LDP configurations to reduce the attack surface, while also establishing baseline performance metrics to quickly identify when memory leaks begin to impact system stability. Organizations should also implement regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify similar memory management issues in other network infrastructure components and ensure comprehensive network security posture maintenance.