CVE-2018-11548 in DAWN
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in EOS.IO DAWN 4.2. plugins/net_plugin/net_plugin.cpp does not limit the number of P2P connections from the same source IP address.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/17/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-11548 affects the EOS.IO DAWN 4.2 blockchain software implementation and specifically targets the network plugin component responsible for peer-to-peer communications. This issue resides within the plugins/net_plugin/net_plugin.cpp file where the system fails to enforce restrictions on the number of concurrent peer-to-peer connections originating from identical source IP addresses. The absence of connection limiting mechanisms creates a potential vector for resource exhaustion attacks that can significantly impact the network's operational integrity and availability.
From a technical perspective this vulnerability represents a classic denial of service condition where malicious actors can exploit the lack of connection rate limiting to establish multiple simultaneous connections from the same IP address. The flaw directly relates to CWE-400 which categorizes unspecified resource exhaustion vulnerabilities, specifically targeting network connection resources. When an attacker floods the network with connections from a single source, legitimate nodes may be unable to establish new connections due to resource exhaustion, effectively creating a denial of service scenario that undermines the decentralized network's functionality. The vulnerability operates at the network layer of the OSI model, specifically affecting the transport and application layers where peer communication occurs.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the entire blockchain network's stability and security posture. Network nodes can become overwhelmed with connection requests, leading to performance degradation and potential system crashes that affect consensus mechanisms and transaction processing capabilities. This issue particularly threatens the network's resilience against coordinated attacks where multiple malicious nodes attempt to saturate connection limits from various source addresses, ultimately exhausting available network resources and potentially allowing attackers to manipulate the peer discovery process. The vulnerability also enables amplification attacks where a single attacker can leverage the network's lack of connection limiting to create disproportionate resource consumption.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing connection rate limiting mechanisms at the network plugin level to prevent single IP addresses from establishing excessive connections. The recommended approach involves configuring maximum connection limits per source IP address within the net_plugin configuration parameters, ensuring that legitimate network participants can maintain connectivity while preventing abuse. Network administrators should also implement firewall rules and intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious connection patterns and automatically block IP addresses exhibiting malicious behavior. Additionally, the software should be updated to newer versions of EOS.IO where this vulnerability has been addressed through proper connection management and rate limiting implementations. The fix should align with security best practices outlined in the NIST cybersecurity framework and align with the ATT&CK technique T1499.002 which covers network denial of service attacks through resource exhaustion. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and monitoring solutions to detect and respond to connection flooding attempts that could exploit this vulnerability.