CVE-2008-5081 Denial of service in n/a

Medium 5.0 Published 17 Dec 2008 Updated 7 Aug 2024

Remote attackers can crash the Avahi daemon by sending a crafted mDNS packet with a source port of 0, causing a denial of service.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2008-5081?

CVE-2008-5081 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 17 Dec 2008. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The originates_from_local_legacy_unicast_socket function (avahi-core/server.c) in avahi-daemon in Avahi before 0.6.24 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted mDNS packet with a source port of 0, which triggers an assertion failure.

Weakness: CWE-399

Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-5081?

It affects 1 product.

Linux distribution packages (26)

`avahi` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-howl` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-libdns_sd` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-glib` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-qt3` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-tools` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-howl-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-libdns_sd-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-glib-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-qt3-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client_workstation	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-howl` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-howl-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-libdns_sd` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-compat-libdns_sd-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-glib` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-glib-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-qt3` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-qt3-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`
`avahi-tools` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:0.6.16-1.el5_2.1`

Products include Avahi Avahi.

How do I fix CVE-2008-5081?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2008-5081 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-5081 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module and 1 Exploit-DB entry.

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2008-5081, DTSA-189-1, GHSA-r2cw-w385-f36j, RHSA-2009:0013.