CVE-2022-40306 in Printanista Hub
Summary
by MITRE • 09/15/2022
The login form /Login in ECi Printanista Hub (formerly FMAudit Printscout) through 2022-06-27 performs expensive RSA key-generation operations, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (DoS) by requesting that form repeatedly.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/16/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-40306 affects ECi Printanista Hub, formerly known as FMAudit Printscout, and represents a significant denial of service weakness that exploits the system's cryptographic operations during authentication. This issue manifests through the login form at the /Login endpoint where the application performs computationally intensive RSA key-generation operations that are executed repeatedly with each login attempt. The flaw creates a scenario where an attacker can systematically consume system resources by continuously submitting login requests, effectively exhausting the computational capacity of the server and rendering the service unavailable to legitimate users. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability aspect of the CIA triad and demonstrates poor resource management in cryptographic implementations.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement proper resource constraints and rate limiting mechanisms during authentication processes. When the login form is accessed, the system initiates expensive RSA key-generation operations that are typically designed for secure cryptographic operations but are being invoked without adequate safeguards against repeated execution. This behavior aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes the vulnerability as an unchecked resource consumption issue, where the system fails to properly limit the computational resources allocated to cryptographic operations. The flaw essentially allows an attacker to perform a resource exhaustion attack by repeatedly triggering these expensive operations, causing the system to become unresponsive or crash entirely.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a critical risk to organizations relying on Printanista Hub for their document management and print auditing processes. The DoS attack can be executed with minimal resources and technical expertise, making it particularly dangerous in production environments where continuous availability is essential. Attackers can leverage this weakness to disrupt business operations, potentially causing significant financial impact through extended service outages. The vulnerability also exposes the system to potential amplification attacks where multiple concurrent requests can exponentially increase the resource consumption, further exacerbating the denial of service impact. The attack vector is particularly concerning because it targets the authentication mechanism, which is fundamental to system security and accessibility.
Security practitioners should implement immediate mitigations including rate limiting mechanisms at the application layer to restrict the number of login attempts per IP address or session within a specified time window. The system should also implement proper resource management controls that monitor and limit the computational resources consumed during cryptographic operations. Network-level protections such as intrusion detection systems and firewalls can help identify and block suspicious patterns of repeated login requests. Additionally, implementing proper session management and authentication throttling can prevent attackers from exploiting this vulnerability through automated tools. Organizations should consider upgrading to newer versions of the software that address this specific issue, as the vulnerability was present through the 2022-06-27 release. The remediation approach should follow ATT&CK technique T1499, which focuses on preventing resource exhaustion attacks by implementing proper access controls and rate limiting mechanisms to protect against denial of service conditions.