Vulnerability Note VU#924812

Nokia Gateway GPRS support node vulnerable to DoS

Overview

A vulnerability in the Nokia Gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) may allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service.

I. Description

A vulnerability in the GGSN may allow a remote attacker to restart the device. For technical details, please see the @stake Security Advisory Nokia GGSN (IP650 Based) DoS Issues.

Nokia describes the GGSN as follows:

The Nokia GGSN is the network element that provides the interface between the GPRS network and external IP networks, such as the Internet and corporate intranet. By providing secure connections to external packet networks, the GGSN links the GPRS network to the Internet, ISPs and corporate intranets. The GGSN also provides allocation of IP address.

II. Impact

A remote attacker may be able to restart the GGSN, which will disrupt connectivity within the GPRS network that the GGSN is responsible for.

III. Solution

Obtain an upgraded IPSO from Nokia.

Workarounds

Nokia recommends the following:

As an interim measure operators can perform the following preventative configuration changes to their networks. Ensure that all IP packets with non standard IP options are dropped by boarder firewalls on the Gi interface. Within the Gn network ensure that the GTP aware firewall (if present) also drops all encapsulated IP packets with non standard IP options. This may introduce latency however it will mitigate against the attack until the patch has been fully deployed and tested.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Nokia	Vulnerable	20-Aug-2003

References

http://www.nokia.com
http://www.atstake.com/research/advisories/2003/a060903-1.txt
http://www.secunia.com/advisories/9008/
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/7854
http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2003/Jun/1006964.html
http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/12221.php
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/9051_print.shtml

Credit

This vulnerability was discovered by @stake, Inc.

This document was written by Ian A Finlay.

Other Information

Date Public:	2003-06-09
Date First Published:	2003-08-20
Date Last Updated:	2003-08-20
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2003-0368
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2003-0368
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Severity Metric:	5.62
Document Revision:	10

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