A vulnerability in the system resource management of Cisco Elastic Services Controller (ESC) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) to the health monitor API on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to inadequate provisioning of kernel parameters for the maximum number of TCP connections and SYN backlog. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a flood of crafted TCP packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to block TCP listening ports that are used by the health monitor API. This vulnerability only affects customers who use the health monitor API.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elastic_services_controller | Cisco | * | 5.3.0.94 (including) |
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.