CVE-2020-22650 in Ossim
Summary
by MITRE • 07/19/2021
A memory leak vulnerability in sim-organizer.c of AlienVault Ossim v5 causes a denial of service (DOS) via a system crash triggered by the occurrence of a large number of alarm events.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/22/2021
The memory leak vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-22650 resides within the sim-organizer.c component of AlienVault OSSIM version 5, representing a critical security flaw that directly impacts system stability and availability. This vulnerability manifests when the system processes an excessive volume of alarm events, creating conditions that lead to uncontrolled memory consumption. The flaw operates at the application level within the Open Source Security Information Management (OSSIM) platform, which is widely deployed for security information and event management (SIEM) purposes across enterprise environments.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability involves improper memory management practices within the sim-organizer.c module where allocated memory blocks are not properly released after processing alarm events. This memory leak occurs incrementally with each alarm event processed, eventually exhausting available system memory resources. The vulnerability is classified as a memory leak under CWE-401, which specifically addresses the failure to release or recycle memory resources. The flaw operates as a denial of service condition because the continuous accumulation of unreleased memory fragments causes the system to become unresponsive or crash entirely, disrupting security monitoring operations.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to organizations relying on AlienVault OSSIM for continuous security monitoring and incident response. The system crash resulting from the memory leak effectively eliminates the ability to process new alarm events, creating a window of vulnerability where security threats may go undetected. This vulnerability directly conflicts with the fundamental requirements of security information and event management systems, which must maintain continuous operation to provide effective threat detection and response capabilities. The impact extends beyond simple system unavailability as it compromises the integrity of the security monitoring infrastructure, potentially allowing malicious actors to exploit the system downtime for further attacks.
The vulnerability's exploitation requires only the generation of a large volume of alarm events, making it particularly dangerous as it can be triggered through legitimate system operation or through automated attack vectors that flood the system with malicious events. This characteristic places the vulnerability within the ATT&CK framework under the technique T1499.004 - Endpoint Denial of Service, where adversaries can cause system unavailability by consuming system resources. Organizations utilizing this vulnerable version of OSSIM face potential operational disruption that could last hours or days while system administrators work to recover from the crash and implement mitigations. The memory leak specifically affects the system's ability to maintain stable operation during high-volume security event processing, which is precisely when such systems are most critical.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability include immediate patching of the OSSIM platform to version 5.4.0 or later, which contains the necessary memory management fixes. System administrators should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unusual memory consumption patterns and establish automated alerts when memory usage exceeds predefined thresholds. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing rate limiting mechanisms to control the volume of alarm events processed simultaneously, thereby preventing the memory leak from reaching critical levels. The implementation of these mitigations aligns with the principle of least privilege and defense in depth, ensuring that security systems maintain operational integrity even under stress conditions. Regular system maintenance and memory monitoring should be integrated into operational procedures to prevent similar vulnerabilities from compromising security infrastructure.