CVE-2017-12256 in Wide Area Application Services
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in the Akamai Connect feature of Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Appliances could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to certain file-handling inefficiencies of the affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by directing client systems to access a corrupted file that the client systems cannot decompress correctly. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to crash or hang unexpectedly and result in a DoS condition that may require manual intervention to regain normal operating conditions. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCve82472.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/15/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-12256 resides within the Akamai Connect feature of Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Appliances, representing a significant security concern that affects network infrastructure devices. This weakness specifically targets the file handling mechanisms employed by the WAAS appliances, creating an avenue for remote exploitation without requiring authentication credentials. The affected devices operate within enterprise networks where application delivery and performance optimization are critical, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can disrupt business operations and network availability. The issue manifests through inefficient file handling processes that fail to properly validate or process certain file types, creating a potential attack surface for malicious actors seeking to compromise network services.
The technical flaw stems from inadequate file processing logic within the Akamai Connect implementation, where the system fails to properly handle corrupted or malformed files that are transmitted through client systems. When a client attempts to access a specially crafted file that cannot be decompressed correctly, the WAAS appliance's file handling routines become overwhelmed or enter an unstable state. This occurs because the system lacks proper error handling mechanisms to gracefully manage file corruption or decompression failures. The vulnerability specifically exploits the appliance's inability to distinguish between valid and invalid file structures during the decompression process, causing the system to either crash or become unresponsive. According to the Cisco Bug ID CSCve82472, this issue affects the core file processing components that handle content delivery operations, making it particularly impactful for appliances that process large volumes of application data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can lead to complete system unavailability that requires manual intervention to restore normal operations. When exploited successfully, the DoS condition can cause the affected WAAS appliance to crash unexpectedly, forcing network administrators to perform manual restart procedures that may result in extended downtime. This disruption affects application delivery services that depend on the WAAS appliances for optimized performance, potentially impacting critical business applications and user access to enterprise resources. The vulnerability's remote nature means that attackers can exploit it from outside the network perimeter without requiring physical access or network credentials, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network segmentation is not properly implemented. Organizations relying on WAAS appliances for application acceleration and optimization face significant risk of service interruptions that can cascade through their network infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-12256 should focus on immediate patch application from Cisco, which addresses the underlying file handling inefficiencies and implements proper error handling for corrupted file processing. Network administrators should also implement network segmentation to limit exposure of WAAS appliances to untrusted networks, reducing the attack surface for remote exploitation attempts. Additionally, monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual patterns in file access requests that might indicate exploitation attempts, though this requires careful tuning to avoid false positives. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. Organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems that can identify suspicious file handling patterns and establish incident response procedures for rapid recovery from DoS conditions. Regular security assessments of network infrastructure components and maintaining up-to-date vulnerability management processes are essential for preventing exploitation of similar weaknesses in other network services.