A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of affected products could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service. Successful exploitation could allow an attacker to crash the system, preventing it from rebooting without manual intervention and disrupting network operations.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
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.