CVE-2017-0938 in airMAX
Summary
by MITRE
Denial of Service attack in airMAX < 8.3.2 , airMAX < 6.0.7 and EdgeMAX < 1.9.7 allow attackers to use the Discovery Protocol in amplification attacks.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/10/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-0938 represents a critical denial of service weakness affecting Ubiquiti airMAX and EdgeMAX networking equipment. This flaw resides within the Discovery Protocol implementation across multiple firmware versions, specifically impacting airMAX devices running versions prior to 8.3.2 and 6.0.7, alongside EdgeMAX systems below version 1.9.7. The vulnerability enables attackers to exploit the protocol's design to conduct amplification attacks that can overwhelm target systems with excessive traffic.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability leverages the inherent characteristics of the Discovery Protocol to generate disproportionate responses to legitimate requests. Attackers can send spoofed packets to network devices that respond with significantly larger payloads, creating a scenario where a small number of malicious packets can generate massive amounts of traffic directed at intended victims. This amplification factor can reach several hundred times the original packet size, making the attack particularly devastating for network infrastructure. The flaw stems from insufficient validation of incoming discovery requests and inadequate rate limiting mechanisms within the protocol implementation.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-0938 extends beyond simple network disruption, potentially causing complete service outages for affected organizations. Network administrators may experience significant bandwidth consumption and system resource exhaustion, leading to extended periods of service degradation or complete network unavailability. The vulnerability affects critical infrastructure components that typically operate continuously, making the sustained impact of such attacks particularly damaging. Organizations relying on Ubiquiti networking equipment for mission-critical operations face substantial risk of operational disruption, customer service degradation, and potential financial losses due to extended downtime.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate firmware updates to patched versions where available, specifically targeting the affected airMAX and EdgeMAX releases. Network administrators should implement rate limiting and access control lists to restrict discovery protocol traffic at network boundaries, preventing unauthorized amplification attacks. The implementation of ingress filtering and source address validation can help reduce the effectiveness of spoofed packet attacks targeting this vulnerability. Organizations should also consider network segmentation to isolate critical systems from potential attack vectors, while monitoring network traffic for unusual patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which addresses "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption," and maps to ATT&CK technique T1498, "Network Denial of Service," demonstrating the broader threat landscape implications for network security operations and incident response procedures.