A vulnerability in the filesystem resource management code of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to exhaust filesystem resources on an affected device and cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to ineffective management of the underlying filesystem resources. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by performing specific actions that result in messages being sent to specific operating system log files. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust available filesystem space on an affected device. This could cause the device to crash and reload, resulting in a DoS condition for clients whose network traffic is transiting the device. Upon reload of the device, the impacted filesystem space is cleared, and the device will return to normal operation. However, continued exploitation of this vulnerability could cause subsequent forced crashes and reloads, which could lead to an extended DoS condition.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ios_xe | Cisco | 16.6.1 (including) | 16.6.1 (including) |
| Ios_xe | Cisco | 16.8.1 (including) | 16.8.1 (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.