CVE-2020-37177 in BOOTPTurbo
Summary
by MITRE • 02/11/2026
BOOTP Turbo 2.0 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows attackers to crash the application by overwriting the Structured Exception Handler (SEH). Attackers can generate a malicious payload of 2196 bytes with specific byte patterns to trigger an application crash and corrupt the SEH chain.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/11/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-37177 affects BOOTP Turbo 2.0, a network protocol implementation that handles bootstrap protocol operations for network device configuration. This denial of service flaw represents a critical security weakness that undermines the reliability and availability of network infrastructure services. The vulnerability specifically targets the structured exception handling mechanism within the application, which serves as a critical fault recovery system for managing unexpected program states and errors. When properly exploited, this vulnerability can cause complete application termination and system instability, potentially disrupting network operations and device provisioning processes that depend on BOOTP functionality.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves crafting a malicious payload that precisely manipulates the Structured Exception Handler chain within the application's memory space. The attack requires generating a payload of exactly 2196 bytes containing specific byte patterns designed to overwrite critical exception handling structures. This type of exploitation falls under the category of stack-based buffer overflow attacks and represents a sophisticated approach to application crash generation. The vulnerability demonstrates poor input validation and memory management practices within the BOOTP Turbo 2.0 implementation, where the application fails to properly validate or sanitize incoming data before processing. The specific byte patterns in the payload are designed to overwrite the SEH record, which contains pointers to exception handling routines that the application uses to manage program flow during error conditions.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to network infrastructure availability and service continuity. Network administrators and system operators who rely on BOOTP Turbo 2.0 for device configuration and network provisioning may experience unexpected service disruptions when attackers exploit this flaw. The denial of service condition can result in complete application crashes, requiring manual intervention and system restarts to restore normal operations. This vulnerability particularly affects environments where network devices depend on BOOTP for initial configuration and IP address assignment, potentially causing cascading failures throughout the network infrastructure. The attack requires minimal sophistication and can be automated, making it particularly dangerous for environments with limited monitoring capabilities.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions that can lead to arbitrary code execution and system instability. This classification indicates that the flaw involves improper handling of data that exceeds allocated buffer boundaries, specifically targeting exception handling mechanisms rather than traditional code execution paths. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks, and potentially T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreters in network contexts. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including network segmentation, application whitelisting, and network monitoring to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. The recommended approach involves applying vendor patches or updates as soon as they become available, implementing network access controls to restrict unauthorized access to BOOTP services, and establishing robust monitoring procedures to detect unusual network traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts.
Mitigation efforts should focus on both immediate defensive measures and long-term architectural improvements. System administrators should consider disabling BOOTP services when not actively required, implementing strict network access controls, and deploying intrusion detection systems capable of identifying the specific payload patterns associated with this vulnerability. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and memory management practices in network protocol implementations. Organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify similar weaknesses in other network services and protocols, as this type of structured exception handler manipulation represents a common attack vector in network infrastructure applications. Additionally, regular security testing and code reviews should be implemented to identify potential buffer overflow vulnerabilities and other memory corruption issues that could lead to similar denial of service conditions.