IBM and Cisco battle remote attack vulnerabilities

By Edmund X. DeJesus, Contributing Writer 12 Apr 2004 | SearchSecurity.com

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

Both IBM and Cisco are warning of vulnerabilities that remote attackers could exploit to cause denial of service and other problems. Administrators should apply available fixes to avoid security exposure.

IBM's HTTP Server is the latest victim of vulnerabilities due to OpenSSL flaws reported in November 2003. OpenSSL has flaws in handling invalid ASN.1 encodings that a remote attacker may leverage by using unusual ASN.1 tag values. The resulting deallocation of memory can allow denial of service and possible execution of arbitrary code.

The problem affects IBM HTTP Server versions 1.x and 2.x. IBM has provided fixes in the form of upgrades to version 1.3.x or 2.0.

A different vulnerability affects Cisco's Catalyst 6500 Series Switches and 7600 Series Internet Routers using the IP Security (IPSec) VPN Services Module (VPNSM). The VPNSM is a high-speed component that supplies infrastructure-integrated IPSec VPN services. Remote attackers using specially crafted Internet Key Exchange (IKE) packets can force the hardware to crash and reload, causing a denial of service.

The problem affects Cisco IOS versions 12.2SXA, 12.2SXB and 12.2SY using VPNSM. There are no workarounds to mitigate the problem, but Cisco is providing fixes. This issue with Cisco vulnerabilities is the latest of several in the past month.

Tags: Secure Remote Access,  Denial of Service (DoS) Attack Prevention,  VIEW ALL TAGS

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT Secure Remote Access Endpoint protection best practices manual: Combating issues, problems Best Mobile Data Security Products Perimeter defense in the era of the perimeterless network Securing the intranet with remote access VPN security What security software should be installed on Internet café computers? Information security book excerpts and reviews Diverse mobile devices changing security paradigm Cisco warns of security appliance flaws How to configure NAP for Windows Server 2008 Can home PCs provide a way for viruses and spyware to enter a corporate LAN? Denial of Service (DoS) Attack Prevention VeriSign extends DDoS attack protection service Conficker authors prepping for next stage, researcher says Latest DDoS attacks extremely unsophisticated, experts say DDoS attacks hit U.S., South Korean government websites How to prevent a denial-of-service (DoS) attack I'll be watching you: Wireless IPS How to prevent DDoS attacks on websites How to prevent network denial-of-service attacks What are 'phlashing' attacks? Could someone place a rootkit on an internal network through a router? Denial of Service (DoS) Attack Prevention Research

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary authentication  (SearchSecurity.com) RADIUS  (SearchSecurity.com)

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary