CVE-2018-7048 in Streaming Engine
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in Wowza Streaming Engine before 4.7.1. There is a denial of service (memory consumption) via a crafted HTTP request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/09/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-7048 represents a critical denial of service weakness within Wowza Streaming Engine versions prior to 4.7.1. This issue stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms that fail to properly handle malformed HTTP requests, creating a scenario where malicious actors can exploit the system through carefully crafted payloads designed to consume excessive memory resources. The vulnerability specifically targets the HTTP request processing component of the streaming engine, which serves as a primary interface for content delivery and management operations within the platform.
Technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an attacker submits a malformed HTTP request that triggers improper memory allocation behavior within the Wowza Streaming Engine application. The system's insufficient validation routines fail to detect and reject these crafted requests, leading to uncontrolled memory consumption that gradually depletes available system resources. This memory exhaustion eventually results in service disruption, forcing the streaming engine to become unresponsive or crash entirely. The flaw operates at the application layer and can be leveraged remotely without requiring authentication, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where continuous streaming availability is critical. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes improper input validation as a fundamental weakness that can lead to resource exhaustion attacks.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-7048 extends beyond simple service disruption to encompass significant business continuity risks for organizations relying on Wowza Streaming Engine for live content delivery. When exploited, this vulnerability can cause streaming interruptions that directly affect viewer experience and revenue generation for content providers. The memory consumption pattern typically escalates gradually, making detection challenging until the system reaches critical resource exhaustion levels. Organizations may experience cascading failures if the streaming engine is part of larger content delivery networks where service disruption affects multiple dependent systems. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to perform prolonged denial of service attacks that can remain undetected for extended periods, potentially causing significant operational damage.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-7048 primarily focus on immediate software updates to version 4.7.1 or later, which include patched validation routines and improved memory management controls. Organizations should implement network-level protections such as rate limiting and request filtering to prevent malformed requests from reaching the streaming engine. The implementation of intrusion detection systems can help identify suspicious traffic patterns associated with this vulnerability. Additionally, system administrators should monitor memory usage metrics closely and establish automated alerting mechanisms to detect unusual resource consumption patterns. From a security posture perspective, this vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date software components and implementing defense-in-depth strategies that include both application-level and network-level protections. The remediation process should also include thorough testing of updated systems to ensure that the patch does not introduce compatibility issues with existing streaming workflows and configurations.