CVE-2017-17216 in DP300
Summary
by MITRE
Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) in Huawei DP300 V500R002C00; RP200 V500R002C00SPC200; V600R006C00; TE30 V100R001C10; V500R002C00; V600R006C00; TE40 V500R002C00; V600R006C00; TE50 V500R002C00; V600R006C00; TE60 V100R001C10; V500R002C00; V600R006C00 have an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. An unauthenticated, remote attacker crafts malformed packets with specific parameter to the affected products. Due to insufficient validation of packets, successful exploitation may cause process reboot.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/17/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-17216 represents a critical out-of-bounds read flaw within the Media Gateway Control Protocol implementation of several Huawei communication devices including DP300, RP200, and various TE series terminals. This issue manifests in products running specific firmware versions such as V500R002C00, V600R006C00, and others, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on these network infrastructure components. The vulnerability resides in the MGCP protocol handling mechanism where the system fails to properly validate incoming packet parameters before processing them, allowing malicious actors to exploit this weakness through carefully crafted malformed packets.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through remote, unauthenticated attacks that target the MGCP protocol implementation in Huawei devices. An attacker constructs specially formatted packets containing specific parameter values that trigger the out-of-bounds read condition within the device's processing logic. This flaw falls under CWE-129, which specifically addresses insufficient validation of the length or size of input data, and represents a classic buffer over-read scenario that can lead to system instability. The protocol implementation lacks proper bounds checking mechanisms when parsing MGCP messages, particularly during parameter validation phases where the system assumes certain data structures maintain expected sizes and formats.
The operational impact of successful exploitation results in unauthorized process reboots of the affected Huawei devices, effectively causing denial of service conditions that can disrupt critical communication services. This vulnerability particularly affects enterprise communication infrastructures where these devices serve as media gateways, potentially leading to significant business disruption when voice and video services become unavailable. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this weakness without requiring physical access or authentication credentials, making it particularly dangerous for network administrators who may not immediately detect such attacks. The reboot condition can be leveraged for persistent disruption attacks or as a stepping stone for more sophisticated exploitation attempts.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to isolate affected devices from critical network segments, deployment of intrusion detection systems to monitor for malformed MGCP traffic patterns, and application of firmware updates from Huawei once available. Network access control lists should be configured to restrict MGCP protocol traffic to trusted sources only, while monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect unusual reboot patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and bounds checking in network protocol implementations, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1203 which covers the use of malicious files and payloads for privilege escalation. Security teams should also consider implementing network telemetry to track device behavior and establish baselines for normal operation to quickly identify potential exploitation attempts.