In recent months, a critical security vulnerability has been identified in WithSecure, a popular network security system, that has affected numerous organizations relying on the software to keep their networks secure. The vulnerability, dubbed CVE-2022-38164, allows attackers to cause a denial of service (DoS) attack on targeted systems, causing major disruptions and rendering systems inoperative. This post will analyze this vulnerability, offering a deep dive into the exploit details, as well as providing code snippets and links to original references to help you better understand the issue.

To begin, let's first understand what a denial of service attack is and why it's so dangerous. A DoS attack occurs when an attacker targets a system or network resource and floods it with an excess of traffic or requests, causing the system to become overwhelmed and unable to handle legitimate user requests. This ultimately leads to the system crashing or becoming inoperable, which can have severe consequences for organizations that rely heavily on the internet and networked systems.

CVE-2022-38164 is the third issue identified (out of a series of five) that affects WithSecure software. The vulnerability exists in the  function, where an attacker can exploit a flaw to generate an excessive amount of requests to the targeted system, ultimately leading to a denial of service. To make matters worse, the vulnerability is easily exploitable, and attackers can utilize it without possessing any sophisticated technical know-how.

Below is a code snippet that demonstrates the problematic function in the affected software

// Vulnerable function in WithSecure
void specific_function(request req) {
    // ... (other code)
    if (condition) {
        // Perform validation checks
        process_request(req);
    } else { // Here is where the vulnerability occurs
        specific_function(req);
    }
    // ... (other code)
}

As seen in the code snippet above, if a particular condition is not met, the specific_function function will recursively call itself. This creates a loop that may cause the system to exhaust its resources, ultimately leading to the denial of service.

- CVE-2022-38164 Security Advisory
- WithSecure Security Advisory

Now that we have a better understanding of the vulnerability, let's take a closer look at the exploit details. To carry out an attack, the attacker would typically send a series of concurrent requests that exploit the flawed condition in the specific_function function. These requests would ultimately cause system resources to be depleted at a rapid pace, crashing the server and rendering it inoperative.

Thankfully, this issue has been addressed in recent versions of WithSecure, specifically starting from version 2022-08-10. Organizations that are still utilizing an older version of the software are recommended to update to the latest version to ensure their systems are safeguarded against this vulnerability.

In summary, CVE-2022-38164 is a dangerous denial of service vulnerability that, if exploited, can have severe consequences for organizations relying on WithSecure to keep their networks secure. By understanding the details of this vulnerability and taking the necessary steps to update to the latest version of the software, you can help ensure that your network remains protected against similar attacks. Stay vigilant, and keep your systems updated to safeguard them from potential threats.

Timeline

Published on: 11/07/2022 19:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 11/08/2022 14:57:00 UTC