A vulnerability in the SSH service of the Cisco StarOS operating system could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to stop processing traffic, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to a logic error that may occur under specific traffic conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of crafted packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to prevent the targeted service from receiving any traffic, which would lead to a DoS condition on the affected device.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staros | Cisco | 21.9.0 (including) | 21.19.10 (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.