CVE-2017-8167 in USG9500
Summary
by MITRE
Huawei firewall products USG9500 V500R001C50 has a DoS vulnerability.A remote attacker who controls the peer device could exploit the vulnerability by sending malformed IKE packets to the target device. Successful exploit of the vulnerability could cause the device to restart.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/16/2023
The CVE-2017-8167 vulnerability represents a critical denial of service weakness in Huawei's USG9500 firewall series, specifically affecting version V500R001C50 of the Unified Security Gateway platform. This vulnerability resides within the Internet Key Exchange protocol implementation that governs secure communication between network devices. The flaw manifests when the firewall processes malformed IKE packets from peer devices, creating a condition where legitimate network security operations become compromised. The vulnerability's classification as a remote attack vector means that malicious actors need not have physical access to the device but can instead exploit the weakness from external network positions, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise security infrastructure.
The technical mechanism underlying this vulnerability involves the improper handling of malformed Internet Key Exchange packets within the firewall's security processing engine. When the USG9500 receives specially crafted IKE packets that deviate from expected protocol standards, the device's packet parsing mechanisms fail to properly validate or sanitize the incoming data. This failure creates a condition where the firewall's memory management or processing threads become unstable, ultimately leading to system restart. The vulnerability operates at the network protocol level, specifically targeting the IKE version 1 implementation within the IPsec security framework that Huawei firewall products utilize for establishing secure communications between network peers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise entire network security postures. When a Huawei USG9500 firewall experiences a restart due to this vulnerability, it creates temporary network outages that can affect critical business operations, particularly in environments where the firewall serves as a primary security gateway. The restart event may also result in the loss of active security sessions, forcing network traffic to traverse potentially unsecured pathways during the recovery period. Organizations relying on this firewall for perimeter security face significant risk of unauthorized access or data exposure during the device's downtime, as the security policies and active connections are reset upon system restart.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate attention from network administrators and security teams. The primary recommendation involves applying the official Huawei security patches and firmware updates that address the specific IKE packet handling flaw. Network segmentation and monitoring should be implemented to detect unusual IKE traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The implementation of intrusion detection systems capable of identifying malformed IKE packets can provide early warning of potential attacks. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing redundant security appliances to minimize the impact of a single device failure. From a compliance standpoint, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-129 and CWE-362 categories, representing issues in input validation and improper handling of concurrent execution. The vulnerability also maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.002 for network denial of service attacks, emphasizing the need for robust network security monitoring and incident response capabilities. Organizations should also consider implementing network access controls to limit which devices can communicate with the firewall's IKE ports, reducing the attack surface for potential exploitation.