CVE-2022-23142 in ZXEN CG200
Summary
by MITRE • 07/18/2022
ZXEN CG200 has a DoS vulnerability. An attacker could construct and send a large number of HTTP GET requests in a short time, which can make the product management websites not accessible.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/06/2022
The CVE-2022-23142 vulnerability affects the ZXEN CG200 device, representing a significant denial of service weakness that compromises the availability of management interfaces. This vulnerability manifests through a specific pattern of attack where malicious actors can exploit the device's HTTP handling capabilities by flooding it with an excessive volume of GET requests within a condensed timeframe. The targeted management website becomes inaccessible due to this resource exhaustion attack, effectively rendering the device's administrative functions unusable and disrupting normal operational procedures.
This vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and request handling mechanisms within the device's web server implementation. The ZXEN CG200 fails to properly rate limit or throttle incoming HTTP requests, allowing an attacker to overwhelm the system's processing capabilities through what constitutes a classic volumetric denial of service attack. The device lacks sufficient protective measures to distinguish between legitimate administrative traffic and malicious request floods, making it particularly susceptible to this type of exploitation. The flaw demonstrates poor resource management practices and insufficient protection against excessive request volumes that could lead to system resource exhaustion.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, potentially compromising the overall security posture of networks relying on ZXEN CG200 devices. When the management interface becomes unavailable, authorized administrators lose the ability to monitor, configure, or troubleshoot the device, creating operational gaps that could be exploited by threat actors. The vulnerability affects the device's availability and reliability, which directly impacts business continuity and network management capabilities. Organizations may face extended downtime while attempting to restore access to the device's management functions, potentially leading to cascading effects on network operations and security monitoring.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which addresses "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption" and specifically covers issues related to denial of service through excessive resource consumption. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this represents a technique under T1499.004 for "Endpoint Denial of Service" where adversaries target network devices to prevent legitimate access. Organizations should implement rate limiting mechanisms, request throttling, and connection tracking to prevent such attacks. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions can help detect unusual traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, regular firmware updates and security assessments should be conducted to address similar vulnerabilities in network infrastructure devices. The recommended mitigations include configuring access control lists, implementing intrusion detection systems, and establishing baseline traffic patterns for anomaly detection to prevent successful exploitation of this vulnerability.