CVE-2019-11181 in Baseboard Management Controller
Summary
by MITRE
Out of bound read in Intel(R) Baseboard Management Controller firmware may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via network access.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/14/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-11181 represents a critical out-of-bounds read flaw within Intel's Baseboard Management Controller firmware implementation. This issue resides in the firmware layer that governs system management and remote access capabilities, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments where remote system administration is prevalent. The Baseboard Management Controller serves as a dedicated microcontroller for system monitoring, logging, and remote management functions, often accessible via network protocols such as IPMI, SSH, or web interfaces.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking within the firmware code that processes incoming network requests. When an unauthenticated attacker sends specially crafted network packets to the BMC interface, the firmware fails to validate array boundaries properly, leading to a memory read operation that extends beyond allocated buffer limits. This flaw allows the attacker to potentially read sensitive data from adjacent memory locations, which could contain authentication credentials, system configuration details, or other privileged information. The out-of-bounds read occurs during network protocol handling, specifically when processing malformed or unexpected packet structures that the firmware does not properly sanitize.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a significant attack surface for privilege escalation attacks within managed systems. The fact that no authentication is required to exploit this flaw means that any attacker with network access to the BMC interface can potentially leverage this vulnerability to gain deeper insights into the system's internal state. The potential for privilege escalation arises because the leaked memory content may contain session tokens, cryptographic keys, or other credentials that could be used to establish authenticated access to the system. This represents a serious concern for data centers and enterprise environments where BMC interfaces are exposed to network traffic and where unauthorized access could compromise entire server fleets.
The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it can serve as a stepping stone for more sophisticated attacks within the ATT&CK framework. Attackers could use the leaked information to bypass authentication mechanisms, conduct further reconnaissance, or establish persistent access to systems. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004 which covers valid accounts and T1566.002 which involves spearphishing with links. The vulnerability also relates to CWE-125 which describes out-of-bounds read conditions and CWE-284 which covers improper access control. Organizations should consider implementing network segmentation to isolate BMC interfaces from general network traffic, applying firmware updates immediately, and monitoring for unusual network activity on BMC ports. The remediation requires firmware patches from Intel that address the bounds checking implementation, along with network access controls that limit exposure of BMC interfaces to trusted networks only.