FortiGuard Advisory (FGA-2008-23)

EMC NetWorker Denial of Service Vulnerability
2008.October.21

Summary:

A resource exhaustion vulnerability exists throughout multiple EMC products through an exploited RPC interface.

Impact:

Denial of service.

Risk:
  • Medium

Affected Software:
  • NetWorker Server, Storage Node and Client 7.3.x and 7.4, 7.4.1, 7.4.2
  • NetWorker Client and Storage Node for Open VMS 7.3.2 ECO6 and earlier
  • NetWorker Module for Microsoft Exchange 5.1 and earlier
  • NetWorker Module for Microsoft Applications 2.0 and earlier
  • NetWorker Module for Meditech 2.0 and earlier
  • NetWorker PowerSnap 2.4 SP1 and earlier
EMC Recommended Updates for Affected Software:
  • NetWorker Server, Storage Node and Client 7.4 SP3
  • NetWorker Server, Storage Node and Client 7.3 SP4 build 565
  • NetWorker Client and Storage Node for Open VMS 7.3.2 ECO7
  • NetWorker Module for Microsoft Exchange 5.1 SP1
  • NetWorker Module for Microsoft Applications 2.1
  • NetWorker Module for Meditech 2.0 SP1
  • NetWorker PowerSnap 2.4 SP2

Additional Information:

The RPC interface used by the affected EMC products does not properly enforce bounds checking on a parameter which is used to allocate memory on the heap. The vulnerable NetWorker products use the process "nsrexecd.exe". A remote attacker can exploit this by repeatedly sending requests to the RPC interface, each time allocating more and more memory. Eventually system resources will be exhausted, and denial of service is achieved.

Solutions:

Fortinet customers who subscribe to Fortinet’s intrusion prevention (IPS) service should be protected against this resource exhaustion vulnerability. Fortinet’s IPS service is one component of FortiGuard Subscription Services, which also offer comprehensive solutions such as antivirus, Web content filtering and antispam capabilities. These services enable protection against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are continuously updated by the FortiGuard Global Security Research Team, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and true zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. These updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products. Fortinet strictly follows responsible disclosure guidelines to ensure optimum protection during a threat's lifecycle.

References:

Acknowledgment:
  • Zhenhua Liu, Xiaopeng Zhang and Junfeng Jia of Fortinet's FortiGuard Global Security Research Team


Disclaimer:

Although Fortinet has attempted to provide accurate information in these materials, Fortinet assumes no legal responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information. More specific information is available on request from Fortinet. Please note that Fortinet's product information does not constitute or contain any guarantee, warranty or legally binding representation, unless expressly identified as such in a duly signed writing.

About Fortinet ( www.fortinet.com ):

Fortinet is the pioneer and leading provider of ASIC-accelerated unified threat management, or UTM, security systems, which are used by enterprises and service providers to increase their security while reducing total operating costs. Fortinet solutions were built from the ground up to integrate multiple levels of security protection--including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention, VPN, spyware prevention and anti-spam -- designed to help customers protect against network and content level threats. Leveraging a custom ASIC and unified interface, Fortinet solutions offer advanced security functionality that scales from remote office to chassis-based solutions with integrated management and reporting. Fortinet solutions have won multiple awards around the world and are the only security products that are certified in six programs by ICSA Labs: (Firewall, Antivirus, IPSec, SSL, Network IPS, and Anti-Spyware). Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.