CWE-406 Detail

CWE-406

Insufficient Control of Network Message Volume (Network Amplification)
Incomplete
2006-07-19
00h00 +00:00
2023-06-29
00h00 +00:00
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Name: Insufficient Control of Network Message Volume (Network Amplification)

The product does not sufficiently monitor or control transmitted network traffic volume, so that an actor can cause the product to transmit more traffic than should be allowed for that actor.

CWE Description

In the absence of a policy to restrict asymmetric resource consumption, the application or system cannot distinguish between legitimate transmissions and traffic intended to serve as an amplifying attack on target systems. Systems can often be configured to restrict the amount of traffic sent out on behalf of a client, based on the client's origin or access level. This is usually defined in a resource allocation policy. In the absence of a mechanism to keep track of transmissions, the system or application can be easily abused to transmit asymmetrically greater traffic than the request or client should be permitted to.

General Informations

Modes Of Introduction

Operation
Architecture and Design : If the application uses UDP, then it could potentially be subject to spoofing attacks that use the inherent weaknesses of UDP to perform traffic amplification, although this problem can exist in other protocols or contexts.
Implementation

Applicable Platforms

Language

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Common Consequences

Scope Impact Likelihood
AvailabilityDoS: Amplification, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU), DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory), DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

Note: System resources can be quickly consumed leading to poor application performance or system crash. This may affect network performance and could be used to attack other systems and applications relying on network performance.

Observed Examples

References Description

CVE-1999-0513

Classic "Smurf" attack, using spoofed ICMP packets to broadcast addresses.

CVE-1999-1379

DNS query with spoofed source address causes more traffic to be returned to spoofed address than was sent by the attacker.

CVE-2000-0041

Large datagrams are sent in response to malformed datagrams.

CVE-1999-1066

Game server sends a large amount.

CVE-2013-5211

composite: NTP feature generates large responses (high amplification factor) with spoofed UDP source addresses.

Potential Mitigations

Phases : Architecture and Design
An application must make network resources available to a client commensurate with the client's access level.
Phases : Policy
Define a clear policy for network resource allocation and consumption.
Phases : Implementation
An application must, at all times, keep track of network resources and meter their usage appropriately.

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Justification : This CWE entry is a Class and might have Base-level children that would be more appropriate
Comment : Examine children of this entry to see if there is a better fit

NotesNotes

This can be resultant from weaknesses that simplify spoofing attacks.
Network amplification, when performed with spoofing, is normally a multi-channel attack from attacker (acting as user) to amplifier, and amplifier to victim.

Submission

Name Organization Date Date release Version
PLOVER 2006-07-19 +00:00 2006-07-19 +00:00 Draft 3

Modifications

Name Organization Date Comment
Eric Dalci Cigital 2008-07-01 +00:00 updated Time_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-09-08 +00:00 updated Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-10-14 +00:00 updated Description, Enabling_Factors_for_Exploitation, Name, Other_Notes, Theoretical_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2010-06-21 +00:00 updated Other_Notes, Relationship_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-03-29 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-06-01 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-05-11 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-10-30 +00:00 updated Potential_Mitigations
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-02-18 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Observed_Examples, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-07-30 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Enabling_Factors_for_Exploitation, Modes_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-06-20 +00:00 updated Type
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-04-28 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-01-31 +00:00 updated Description
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes