CVE-2017-15699 in Qpid Dispatch Router
Summary
by MITRE
A Denial of Service vulnerability was found in Apache Qpid Dispatch Router versions 0.7.0 and 0.8.0. To exploit this vulnerability, a remote user must be able to establish an AMQP connection to the Qpid Dispatch Router and send a specifically crafted AMQP frame which will cause it to segfault and shut down.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/06/2023
The Apache Qpid Dispatch Router serves as a high-performance message router that facilitates communication between different messaging systems using the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol. This vulnerability affects versions 0.7.0 and 0.8.0 of the software, creating a critical security gap that allows remote attackers to disrupt service availability. The flaw exists within the router's handling of incoming AMQP connections and specifically targets the processing of malformed AMQP frames that can trigger abnormal termination conditions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the AMQP frame processing pipeline. When a remote attacker establishes a legitimate AMQP connection to the router and subsequently sends a carefully constructed frame that exploits memory handling inconsistencies, the system experiences a segmentation fault. This occurs because the router fails to properly validate or sanitize incoming frame data before processing, leading to memory corruption that results in the process crashing. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and CWE-248, which covers exposure of an uninitialized variable. The segmentation fault causes the router to terminate unexpectedly, creating a denial of service condition that affects all legitimate users attempting to access messaging services through the affected system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to encompass broader system reliability concerns. Organizations relying on Apache Qpid Dispatch Router for mission-critical messaging infrastructure face potential downtime that can cascade into business interruption scenarios. The remote exploit capability means that attackers need only have network access to the router to execute the attack, making it particularly dangerous in environments where such systems are exposed to untrusted networks. From an attack methodology perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network disruption through service availability denial. The impact affects not only the immediate router service but can also disrupt downstream applications that depend on message queuing for their operations, potentially causing cascading failures throughout distributed systems.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching of affected systems to version 0.9.0 or later, which contains the necessary fixes for proper frame validation and memory handling. Organizations should implement network segmentation to restrict access to Qpid Dispatch Router services to trusted sources only, reducing the attack surface. Additionally, monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual connection patterns or segmentation fault occurrences that may indicate exploitation attempts. The implementation of intrusion detection systems specifically tuned to identify malformed AMQP frames can provide early warning of potential attacks. Security teams should also consider implementing redundant routing infrastructure to maintain service availability during patching operations and establish incident response procedures specifically addressing denial of service scenarios involving messaging systems. Regular security assessments of messaging infrastructure components should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other system components that may present comparable risks.