CVE-2020-35210 in Atomix
Summary
by MITRE • 12/16/2021
A vulnerability in Atomix v3.1.5 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (DoS) via a Raft session flooding attack using Raft OpenSessionRequest messages.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/22/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-35210 resides within Atomix v3.1.5, a distributed systems framework designed for building resilient and fault-tolerant applications. This particular flaw manifests as a denial of service condition that can be triggered through a sophisticated session flooding attack targeting the Raft consensus protocol implementation within the framework. The vulnerability specifically exploits the handling of Raft OpenSessionRequest messages, which are fundamental components in establishing and maintaining distributed session states across the cluster. The Raft consensus algorithm, widely adopted for its simplicity and understandability compared to other consensus protocols like Paxos, relies on coordinated session management to ensure consistency and reliability across distributed nodes. When an attacker crafts and floods the system with excessive OpenSessionRequest messages, the framework's session handling mechanism becomes overwhelmed, leading to resource exhaustion and ultimately rendering the service unavailable to legitimate users.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and resource management within the Raft session handling subsystem. The flaw represents a classic example of a resource exhaustion attack pattern where malicious actors can leverage the legitimate session establishment mechanism to consume system resources such as memory, CPU cycles, and connection handles. Each OpenSessionRequest message triggers internal processing that includes session state creation, validation, and coordination with other cluster members. When these requests are sent in rapid succession or in excessive quantities, the system's ability to process legitimate session requests degrades significantly. The vulnerability demonstrates poor rate limiting and session validation mechanisms that fail to distinguish between legitimate and malicious session requests. This type of attack falls under the category of application-level denial of service as defined by the Common Weakness Enumeration framework, specifically mapping to CWE-400 which addresses "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption" and CWE-770 which covers "Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling."
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service unavailability, potentially compromising the entire distributed system's stability and reliability. In production environments where Atomix is deployed for critical infrastructure, such as microservices orchestration, distributed databases, or consensus-based application frameworks, this DoS condition can result in cascading failures affecting multiple dependent services. The attack can be executed with relatively low resources, making it particularly dangerous as it requires minimal computational power to cause significant disruption. Network administrators and security teams face the challenge of detecting such attacks, as they appear to originate from legitimate session establishment attempts, making them difficult to distinguish from normal traffic patterns. The vulnerability essentially allows an attacker to consume system resources at a rate that prevents legitimate users from establishing new sessions, effectively creating a service disruption that can persist until the system is manually reset or the attack is stopped.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-35210 must address both immediate defensive measures and long-term architectural improvements. Organizations should implement rate limiting mechanisms at the network level and within the application itself to control the volume of OpenSessionRequest messages that can be processed within a given time window. The framework should incorporate intelligent session validation that can detect anomalous patterns in session request frequency and behavior. Implementing connection pooling with proper resource limits and session timeout mechanisms can help prevent resource exhaustion. Security teams should deploy monitoring solutions that can detect unusual session establishment patterns and trigger automated alerts or defensive responses. The implementation of authentication and authorization checks for session requests can add an additional layer of protection. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with techniques such as T1499.004 "Endpoint Denial of Service" and T1566.002 "Phishing" as attackers might use social engineering to gain initial access before executing the DoS attack. The recommended remediation includes upgrading to a patched version of Atomix v3.1.5 or implementing network-level firewalls and intrusion detection systems that can filter out suspicious session request patterns. Additionally, regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other distributed systems components that might be susceptible to analogous session flooding attacks.