CVE-2023-5398 in Experion Server
Summary
by MITRE • 04/17/2024
Server receiving a malformed message based on a list of IPs resulting in heap corruption causing a denial of service. See Honeywell Security Notification for recommendations on upgrading and versioning.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/24/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical heap corruption issue affecting server implementations that process malformed IP address lists in network communications. The flaw manifests when servers receive specially crafted messages containing invalid or malformed IP address data structures, which triggers improper memory handling during processing. The vulnerability falls under the category of memory corruption vulnerabilities that can lead to unpredictable system behavior and complete service disruption.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves improper input validation and memory management within the server's message parsing routines. When the system encounters malformed IP address lists, the parsing logic fails to properly handle edge cases or invalid data formats, leading to heap memory corruption. This type of vulnerability typically occurs when developers do not adequately sanitize input data or fail to implement proper bounds checking during memory allocation and deallocation operations. The heap corruption can manifest through various mechanisms including buffer overflows, use-after-free conditions, or double-free errors that compromise the integrity of the application's memory space.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant denial of service risk that can affect critical infrastructure systems. Attackers can exploit this weakness by sending specifically crafted messages containing malformed IP address data to trigger the heap corruption, resulting in server crashes, application restarts, or complete service unavailability. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as heap corruption can potentially lead to more severe consequences including arbitrary code execution or information disclosure depending on the specific implementation details. This vulnerability particularly affects security systems, network infrastructure devices, and any server applications that process network address information from external sources.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow) and CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) classifications from the CWE database, representing common memory corruption patterns that have been extensively documented in security research. From the MITRE ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and denial of service through memory corruption, potentially enabling adversaries to disrupt network services and maintain persistent access to compromised systems. Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation through official vendor patches and firmware updates as recommended in the Honeywell Security Notification, while implementing network segmentation and monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts.
Mitigation strategies should include implementing robust input validation mechanisms that sanitize all IP address data before processing, deploying network access controls to limit message sources, and establishing comprehensive monitoring for unusual traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar memory corruption vulnerabilities within the broader system architecture. System administrators must maintain updated threat intelligence feeds and ensure all network infrastructure components receive timely security updates to prevent exploitation of this and related vulnerabilities. The remediation approach should emphasize defensive programming practices including proper memory management, input validation, and error handling to prevent similar issues from occurring in future implementations.