Vulnerability Note VU#411059

Microsoft Windows Universal Plug and Play (UPNP) fails to limit the data returned in response to a NOTIFY message

Original Release date: 20 Dec 2001 | Last revised: 20 Dec 2001

Overview

Microsoft Windows Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack that could negatively affect the performance of vulnerable machines.

Description

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is a system designed to allow network devices to operate together. One of the UPnP protocols is called the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP). When a UPnP device joins a network, it announces itself through an SSDP NOTIFY message. The SSDP NOTIFY message includes a reference to a network location from which configuration information about the device can be retrieved. Other UPnP devices on the network that are interested in the newly announced device will consult the location specified in the NOTIFY message. An intruder can specify a specific location that may, for example, provide an enless stream of data (e.g., an echo service). The Microsoft Windows UPnP service will allocate memory in response to the endless stream of data, thus consuming memory and processor time, resulting in potentially severe performance degredation.

For more information, see



This vulnerability was discovered by Eeye Digital Security.

Impact

An intruder can consume memory and processor time on vulnerable systems.

Solution

Apply a patch as described in MS01-059.

Systems Affected (Learn More)

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
MicrosoftAffected-20 Dec 2001
If you are a vendor and your product is affected, let us know.

CVSS Metrics (Learn More)

Group Score Vector
Base N/A N/A
Temporal N/A N/A
Environmental N/A N/A

References

Credit

Our thanks to Eeye Digital Security, who discovered the problem, and Microsoft for the information contained in their bulletins.

This document was written by Shawn V Hernan.

Other Information

  • CVE IDs: CAN-2001-0877
  • Date Public: 20 Dec 2001
  • Date First Published: 20 Dec 2001
  • Date Last Updated: 20 Dec 2001
  • Severity Metric: 4.56
  • Document Revision: 10

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