CVE-2018-0137 in Prime Network Analysis Module
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in the TCP throttling process of Cisco Prime Network could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient rate limiting protection for TCP listening ports. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending the affected device a high rate of TCP SYN packets to the local IP address of the targeted application. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to consume a high amount of memory and become slow, or to stop accepting new TCP connections to the application. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvg48152.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/03/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2018-0137 represents a critical weakness in Cisco Prime Network's TCP throttling mechanisms that exposes devices to remote denial of service attacks. This flaw specifically targets the network infrastructure's handling of TCP connections and demonstrates a fundamental failure in implementing proper rate limiting controls for network services. The vulnerability affects Cisco Prime Network software versions that fail to adequately protect TCP listening ports from excessive connection requests, creating an exploitable condition that can be leveraged by unauthenticated attackers without requiring any privileged access or credentials. The issue stems from insufficient safeguards that should normally prevent a device from being overwhelmed by connection attempts, particularly those targeting specific application ports that are critical to network operations.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves sending a high volume of TCP SYN packets to the targeted device's local IP address, specifically targeting the application ports that are being monitored by the affected Cisco Prime Network system. This attack pattern represents a classic SYN flood DoS methodology where the attacker overwhelms the system's ability to process new connection requests by exhausting resources. The vulnerability manifests when the TCP throttling process fails to properly rate limit incoming SYN packets, allowing an attacker to flood the system with connection attempts that consume significant memory resources and processing power. The attack does not require authentication or specialized knowledge of the system's internal workings, making it particularly dangerous as it can be executed by anyone with network access to the target device.
The operational impact of successfully exploiting CVE-2018-0137 can be severe and far-reaching for network infrastructure and business operations. Devices affected by this vulnerability may experience significant performance degradation where system resources become consumed to the point where the device becomes unresponsive or unable to accept new TCP connections. This condition can disrupt critical network services and applications that depend on the affected Cisco Prime Network system for monitoring and management functions. The memory exhaustion that occurs during exploitation can lead to system instability, application crashes, and complete service outages that may require manual intervention to restore normal operations. Organizations relying on Cisco Prime Network for network management and monitoring may face extended downtime and potential business disruption when this vulnerability is successfully exploited.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations to protect against exploitation of this vulnerability, including applying the relevant security patches released by Cisco to address the TCP throttling deficiencies. Network administrators should also consider implementing rate limiting controls at network boundaries to reduce the impact of SYN flood attacks on affected systems, which aligns with best practices recommended in the ATT&CK framework for network defense and mitigation strategies. Additional protective measures include configuring firewalls and intrusion prevention systems to monitor and block suspicious TCP SYN packet patterns, as well as implementing proper network segmentation to limit the attack surface. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper resource management and rate limiting in network infrastructure, as outlined in CWE categories related to resource exhaustion and insufficient throttling mechanisms. Organizations should also establish monitoring procedures to detect unusual traffic patterns that may indicate attempted exploitation of this vulnerability, ensuring that security teams can respond quickly to potential attacks and maintain network availability and integrity.