CVE-2018-2422 in Internet Graphics Server
Summary
by MITRE
SAP Internet Graphics Server (IGS) Portwatcher, 7.20, 7.20EXT, 7.45, 7.49, 7.53, allows an attacker to prevent legitimate users from accessing a service, either by crashing or flooding the service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/04/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2422 affects SAP Internet Graphics Server (IGS) Portwatcher components across multiple version releases including 7.20, 7.20EXT, 7.45, 7.49, and 7.53. This issue represents a significant denial of service vulnerability that compromises the availability of critical network services within SAP environments. The SAP Internet Graphics Server serves as a component for rendering and displaying graphical content in SAP systems, while the Portwatcher functionality specifically monitors and manages network ports for service availability. This vulnerability falls under the category of availability attacks that can severely impact business operations by making services inaccessible to legitimate users.
The technical flaw stems from inadequate input validation and resource management within the Portwatcher component of SAP IGS. Attackers can exploit this weakness by sending specially crafted network requests or malformed packets that trigger buffer overflows, memory corruption, or excessive resource consumption within the Portwatcher service. The vulnerability allows for both service disruption through crashes and sustained flooding attacks that exhaust available resources, effectively preventing legitimate users from accessing the targeted services. This type of vulnerability is classified as a denial of service condition that can be exploited remotely without requiring authentication, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where SAP systems are critical for business operations.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-2422 extends beyond simple service unavailability as it can cause cascading effects throughout SAP infrastructure. When the Portwatcher service becomes compromised, it can affect multiple downstream applications that depend on proper port monitoring and service availability. The vulnerability creates a persistent threat that can be maintained over time, allowing attackers to continuously disrupt services without requiring repeated exploitation attempts. This characteristic makes the vulnerability particularly attractive to persistent threat actors and increases the potential for extended business disruption. Organizations using affected SAP IGS versions face risks including production system outages, data processing delays, and potential financial losses due to service unavailability.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patching of affected SAP IGS components, implementation of network access controls to restrict unauthorized access to Portwatcher services, and enhanced monitoring of network traffic patterns for signs of exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation to isolate critical SAP services and deploy intrusion detection systems that can identify anomalous traffic patterns associated with denial of service attacks. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing robust network security controls as recommended by industry standards such as the CWE catalog which classifies this issue under denial of service vulnerabilities. Additionally, organizations should follow ATT&CK framework recommendations for defending against service disruption attacks by implementing proper network hygiene and access control measures to prevent unauthorized exploitation of such vulnerabilities.