CVE-2019-0701 in Windows
Summary
by MITRE
A denial of service vulnerability exists when Microsoft Hyper-V on a host server fails to properly validate input from a privileged user on a guest operating system, aka 'Windows Hyper-V Denial of Service Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-0690, CVE-2019-0695.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/01/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-0701 represents a critical denial of service flaw within Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization platform that specifically affects host servers running Windows operating systems. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms within the Hyper-V hypervisor component that manages communication between host and guest virtual machines. The flaw manifests when a privileged user executing code within a guest operating system attempts to manipulate specific input parameters that should be strictly validated by the host system. This particular vulnerability is distinct from related issues CVE-2019-0690 and CVE-2019-0695, which address different aspects of Hyper-V security flaws. The vulnerability resides in the hypervisor's handling of certain communication protocols between virtualized environments and the underlying host infrastructure, creating a potential attack vector that could be exploited by malicious actors with elevated privileges within guest systems.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the hypervisor's failure to properly sanitize and validate data inputs received from guest operating systems, particularly those that are authenticated and possess elevated privileges. When a privileged guest user submits malformed or unexpected input parameters through Hyper-V communication channels, the host system's validation routines either fail completely or process the inputs in a manner that leads to system instability. This flaw typically occurs during the processing of virtual machine configuration data or during the execution of hypervisor management commands that are initiated from guest environments. The vulnerability can be triggered through legitimate administrative operations within the guest system that, when executed with sufficient privileges, cause the hypervisor to enter an inconsistent state or consume excessive system resources. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-20: Improper Input Validation, which specifically addresses the lack of proper validation of inputs that can lead to system instability and denial of service conditions.
The operational impact of CVE-2019-0701 extends beyond simple system unavailability as it can potentially lead to complete host system crashes or require manual intervention to restore normal operations. Attackers with access to a guest operating system with administrative privileges can exploit this vulnerability to disrupt services on the host server, affecting all virtual machines running on that system. The consequences include potential data loss, service interruption, and reduced availability of critical infrastructure components that rely on Hyper-V virtualization. Organizations utilizing Hyper-V environments face significant operational risks as this vulnerability can be exploited to create cascading failures across multiple virtualized workloads. The impact is particularly severe in enterprise environments where multiple virtual machines share a single physical host, as a successful exploitation could affect the entire virtualization infrastructure and potentially compromise business continuity operations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2019-0701 should focus on implementing comprehensive security controls that address both the immediate vulnerability and broader system hardening measures. Microsoft released security updates and patches that address this specific flaw, and organizations must prioritize deployment of these updates across all affected Hyper-V host systems. Network segmentation and access control measures should be implemented to limit the potential attack surface, ensuring that guest systems have minimal privileges and restricted access to host management functions. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous behavior patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, particularly around Hyper-V communication protocols and resource consumption spikes. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing principle of least privilege models for virtual machine access, ensuring that guest operating systems cannot execute privileged operations that could trigger hypervisor validation failures. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for Command and Scripting Interpreter and T1499.004 for Endpoint Denial of Service, demonstrating how guest-level privilege escalation can be leveraged to compromise host system stability and availability.