CVE-2020-8575 in Active IQ Unified Manager for VMware vSphere
Summary
by MITRE
Active IQ Unified Manager for VMware vSphere and Windows versions prior to 9.5 are susceptible to a vulnerability which allows administrative users to cause Denial of Service (DoS).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/04/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-8575 affects Active IQ Unified Manager for VMware vSphere and Windows versions prior to 9.5, representing a critical denial of service weakness that could severely impact operational continuity. This vulnerability specifically targets administrative user accounts and exploits a flaw in the system's processing of certain input parameters that leads to system instability and complete service disruption. The affected versions demonstrate a fundamental weakness in input validation and resource management that allows authenticated administrators to craft malicious requests that trigger system crashes or resource exhaustion. Organizations relying on these unified management platforms for their storage infrastructure monitoring and management face significant operational risks when this vulnerability remains unaddressed.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate validation of user-supplied data within the administrative interfaces of the Active IQ Unified Manager. When administrative users submit specific crafted inputs through the management console or API endpoints, the system fails to properly sanitize or validate these parameters before processing them. This flaw creates a condition where the application becomes vulnerable to resource exhaustion or stack corruption that ultimately results in complete system termination or unresponsiveness. The vulnerability manifests as a direct consequence of weak input validation mechanisms that should have been implemented to prevent malformed data from causing system-level failures. This type of flaw aligns with CWE-20, which categorizes improper input validation as a fundamental weakness in application security design. The issue represents a classic example of how administrative privileges can be weaponized to cause system-wide disruptions, particularly when the system lacks proper defensive mechanisms against malicious input manipulation.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-8575 extends beyond simple service interruption to encompass complete operational paralysis for organizations relying on the affected unified management platforms. When exploited, this vulnerability can cause complete system downtime for storage management operations, potentially leading to extended periods where administrators cannot monitor or manage their storage infrastructure. The disruption affects not only the immediate availability of the management console but also impacts automated monitoring processes and alerting systems that depend on the platform's stability. Organizations may experience cascading effects where the unavailability of the management interface prevents proper incident response procedures, leading to extended recovery times and potential data loss scenarios. The vulnerability's exploitation can occur through legitimate administrative accounts, making it particularly dangerous as it bypasses many traditional security controls that rely on user authentication rather than input validation. This characteristic aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks that can be executed through legitimate administrative access. The impact is particularly severe in enterprise environments where storage management systems serve as critical infrastructure components for business operations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-8575 must prioritize immediate patch deployment to versions 9.5 and later, which contain the necessary security fixes to address the input validation weaknesses. Organizations should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit administrative access to the affected systems, reducing the attack surface for potential exploitation. Additional defensive measures include implementing robust input validation at multiple layers of the application architecture, including API endpoints and administrative interfaces, to prevent malicious data from reaching the core processing components. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual administrative activity patterns that might indicate attempted exploitation of this vulnerability. The implementation of web application firewalls and intrusion detection systems can provide additional protection layers against exploitation attempts. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments of their storage management infrastructure to identify any other potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited in conjunction with this weakness. Regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing should be performed to ensure that similar input validation flaws are not present in other components of the storage management ecosystem. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing of the patched versions to ensure that legitimate administrative functions remain fully operational while the vulnerability is addressed.