IBM AIX malformed TCP packet flood denial of service
| aix-tcp-flood-dos (10326) |  Low Risk |
Description:
IBM AIX is vulnerable to a denial of service attack. If a remote attacker floods the server with malformed TCP packets that have all of the flags set to zero, the attacker could cause the system to consume 100% of the available CPU resources, which would result in a denial of service against legitimate users.
Platforms Affected:
- IBM, AIX 4.3.3
- IBM, AIX 5
- IBM, AIX 5.1
- IBM, AIX 5.2
- IBM, AIX 5.3
Remedy:
For IBM AIX 4.3.3:
Apply APAR IY31641 patch, available from the IBM Technical Support Web site. See References.
For IBM AIX 5.x:
Apply APAR IY31940 patch, available from the IBM Technical Support Web site. See References.
Consequences:
Denial of Service
References:
- BugTraq Mailing List, Wed Oct 09 2002 - 08:43:45 CDT , Flood ACK packets cause AIX DoS at http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2002-10/0127.html.
- BugTraq Mailing List, Wed Oct 09 2002 - 12:58:41 CDT , Re: Flood ACK packets cause AIX DoS at http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2002-10/0128.html.
- IBM APAR IY31641, M/C HANGS IF IT IS FLOODED WITH PACKETS WHOSE TH_FLAGS IS NULL. at http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IY31641.
- IBM APAR IY31940, M/C HANGS IF IT IS FLOODED WITH PACKETS WHOSE TH_FLAGS IS NULL at http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IY31940.
- IBM Technical Support Web site, AIX General Software Fixes at http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/support/aix/downloading.html.
- BID-5925: IBM AIX Remote Empty TCP Flag Flood Denial Of Service Vulnerability
- CVE-2002-1201: IBM AIX 4.3.3 and AIX 5 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption or crash) via a flood of malformed TCP packets without any flags set, which prevents AIX from releasing the associated memory buffers.
- US-CERT VU#102345: IBM AIX vulnerable to DoS
Reported:
Oct 09, 2002
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