A vulnerability in the TCP syslog module of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to exhaust the 1550-byte buffers on an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to a missing boundary check in an internal function. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by establishing a man-in-the-middle position between an affected device and its configured TCP syslog server and then maliciously modifying the TCP header in segments that are sent from the syslog server to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust buffer on the affected device and cause all TCP-based features to stop functioning, resulting in a DoS condition. The affected TCP-based features include AnyConnect SSL VPN, clientless SSL VPN, and management connections such as Secure Shell (SSH), Telnet, and HTTPS.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptive_security_appliance_software | Cisco | 9.4(4) (including) | 9.4(4) (including) |
| Adaptive_security_appliance_software | Cisco | 9.8(2) (including) | 9.8(2) (including) |
Limited resources include memory, file system storage, database connection pool entries, and CPU. If an attacker can trigger the allocation of these limited resources, but the number or size of the resources is not controlled, then the attacker could cause a denial of service that consumes all available resources. This would prevent valid users from accessing the product, and it could potentially have an impact on the surrounding environment. For example, a memory exhaustion attack against an application could slow down the application as well as its host operating system. There are at least three distinct scenarios which can commonly lead to resource exhaustion:
Resource exhaustion problems are often result due to an incorrect implementation of the following situations:
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.