CVE-2018-2423 in Internet Graphics Server
Summary
by MITRE
SAP Internet Graphics Server (IGS), 7.20, 7.20EXT, 7.45, 7.49, 7.53, HTTP and RFC listener 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 • 03/11/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2423 affects SAP Internet Graphics Server (IGS) versions 7.20, 7.20EXT, 7.45, 7.49, and 7.53 across both HTTP and RFC listener components. This issue represents a significant denial of service weakness that can be exploited by remote attackers to disrupt critical business operations. The SAP IGS serves as a graphics rendering and display server that processes and delivers graphical content to SAP applications, making it a crucial component in enterprise environments where visual data presentation is essential for business processes.
The technical flaw manifests through insufficient input validation and resource management within the IGS HTTP and RFC listeners. Attackers can craft malicious requests that cause the service to either crash or become unresponsive, effectively preventing legitimate users from accessing the graphics rendering capabilities. This vulnerability specifically targets the protocol handling mechanisms in the listener components, where malformed or specially crafted requests can trigger buffer overflows, memory corruption, or excessive resource consumption that leads to service termination or degradation. The weakness allows for both immediate service disruption and sustained flooding attacks that can maintain availability issues over extended periods.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-2423 extends beyond simple service interruption to potentially compromise entire business processes that depend on graphical data presentation. Organizations utilizing SAP IGS for dashboards, reports, and visual analytics face significant risk when this vulnerability is exploited, as it can render critical business intelligence tools inaccessible. The vulnerability's exploitation can affect multiple concurrent users simultaneously, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where dozens or hundreds of users may rely on the same graphics service. This type of denial of service attack can result in production delays, financial losses, and potential compliance violations in regulated industries where system availability is mandated.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-2423 should include immediate patch application from SAP as the primary defense mechanism, along with network-level protections such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems that can filter malicious traffic patterns. Organizations should implement rate limiting and connection monitoring to detect and prevent flooding attacks before they can cause significant disruption. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes it as a weakness related to resource exhaustion, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1498 for resource exhaustion attacks. Additionally, implementing proper access controls and authentication mechanisms for the IGS listeners can reduce the attack surface, while regular security assessments and monitoring of service availability should be established to detect exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider network segmentation to isolate the IGS components and limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts.