Vulnerabilities > CVE-2023-20251 - Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer vulnerability in Cisco Mobility Express Software

047910
CVSS 5.3 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
ADJACENT_NETWORK
Attack complexity
HIGH
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
HIGH
high complexity
cisco
CWE-119

Summary

A vulnerability in the memory buffer of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) AireOS Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause memory leaks that could eventually lead to a device reboot. This vulnerability is due to memory leaks caused by multiple clients connecting under specific conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by causing multiple wireless clients to attempt to connect to an access point (AP) on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reboot after a significant amount of time, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Cisco
2

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables
    This attack pattern involves causing a buffer overflow through manipulation of environment variables. Once the attacker finds that they can modify an environment variable, they may try to overflow associated buffers. This attack leverages implicit trust often placed in environment variables.
  • Overflow Buffers
    Buffer Overflow attacks target improper or missing bounds checking on buffer operations, typically triggered by input injected by an attacker. As a consequence, an attacker is able to write past the boundaries of allocated buffer regions in memory, causing a program crash or potentially redirection of execution as per the attackers' choice.
  • Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow
    This type of attack exploits a buffer overflow vulnerability in targeted client software through injection of malicious content from a custom-built hostile service.
  • Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow
    In this attack, the idea is to cause an active filter to fail by causing an oversized transaction. An attacker may try to feed overly long input strings to the program in an attempt to overwhelm the filter (by causing a buffer overflow) and hoping that the filter does not fail securely (i.e. the user input is let into the system unfiltered).
  • MIME Conversion
    An attacker exploits a weakness in the MIME conversion routine to cause a buffer overflow and gain control over the mail server machine. The MIME system is designed to allow various different information formats to be interpreted and sent via e-mail. Attack points exist when data are converted to MIME compatible format and back.