TippingPoint Zero Day Initiative
 

Novell eDirectory LDAP Null Base DN Denial of Service Vulnerability

ZDI-09-075: November 2nd, 2009

CVE ID

Affected Vendors

Affected Products

TippingPoint™ IPS Customer Protection

TippingPoint IPS customers are protected against this vulnerability by Digital Vaccine protection filter ID 9234. For further product information on the TippingPoint IPS:

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows attackers to deny services on vulnerable installations of Novell eDirectory. Authentication is not required in order to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within Novell's eDirectory Server's LDAP implementation. Novell eDirectory's NDSD process binds to port 389/TCP for handling LDAP requests. When the service processes a search request with an undefined BaseDN, it will become unresponsive resulting in an inability to query or authenticate to that server.

Vendor Response

Novell has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:

Disclosure Timeline

    2009-07-14 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
    2009-11-02 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

This vulnerability was discovered by:
    Anonymous