CVE-2020-4994 in DataPower Gateway
Summary
by MITRE • 05/17/2022
IBM DataPower Gateway 10.0.1.0 through 10.0.1.4 and 2018.4.1.0 through 2018.4.1.17 could allow a remote user to cause a temporary denial of service by sending invalid HTTP requests. IBM X-Force ID: 192906.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/26/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-4994 affects IBM DataPower Gateway versions 10.0.1.0 through 10.0.1.4 and 2018.4.1.0 through 2018.4.1.17, representing a critical security flaw that enables remote attackers to induce temporary denial of service conditions. This issue stems from the gateway's insufficient validation of HTTP request parameters, creating an avenue for malicious actors to exploit the system through carefully crafted invalid HTTP requests. The vulnerability resides within the HTTP processing layer of the DataPower appliance, where inadequate input sanitization allows malformed requests to disrupt normal service operations. The impact manifests as temporary service disruption rather than complete system compromise, yet this can significantly affect availability and operational continuity for organizations relying on the gateway for API management and security enforcement.
From a technical perspective, the flaw represents a classic input validation vulnerability that aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation as a fundamental weakness in software systems. The vulnerability operates by exploiting the gateway's handling of malformed HTTP requests, specifically targeting the parsing and processing mechanisms that manage incoming web traffic. When the system receives these invalid requests, it fails to properly terminate or reject them, leading to resource exhaustion or unexpected behavior that results in temporary service disruption. The attack vector is entirely remote, requiring no authentication or physical access to the system, making it particularly dangerous for publicly exposed gateways. This weakness in the HTTP request handling process creates a pathway for attackers to consume system resources or trigger error conditions that temporarily halt service availability.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-4994 extends beyond simple service interruption, as it can affect business continuity and customer satisfaction for organizations utilizing DataPower Gateway for mission-critical API management and security functions. The temporary denial of service can disrupt integration workflows, API access, and enterprise application connectivity, particularly in environments where the gateway serves as a central security enforcement point. Organizations may experience cascading effects as dependent systems lose access to upstream services, potentially leading to broader operational disruptions. The vulnerability's remote nature means that attackers can exploit it from anywhere on the internet, increasing the attack surface and making it particularly challenging to defend against. Additionally, the impact on system resources can be significant, as the gateway may consume excessive CPU cycles or memory while attempting to process malformed requests, leading to performance degradation beyond the immediate denial of service effect.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-4994 should focus on both immediate patching and defensive measures to reduce the attack surface. Organizations must prioritize applying the vendor-provided security fixes and updates released for affected DataPower Gateway versions, as these patches address the root cause of the input validation weakness. Network-level defenses including firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and web application firewalls should be configured to filter and monitor HTTP traffic for suspicious patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Implementing rate limiting and request validation rules can help prevent malicious requests from reaching the vulnerable processing layers. The mitigation approach should also incorporate monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect unusual traffic patterns or service disruptions that might indicate exploitation attempts. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving denial of service and resource exhaustion, with defensive measures aligned with mitigating tactics such as network boundary defense and application layer filtering. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be implemented to identify similar weaknesses in the broader infrastructure, ensuring comprehensive protection against similar threats that could exploit input validation flaws in other components of the enterprise security architecture.