CAPEC-147: XML Ping of the Death
An attacker initiates a resource depletion attack where a large number of small XML messages are delivered at a sufficiently rapid rate to cause a denial of service or crash of the target. Transactions such as repetitive SOAP transactions can deplete resources faster than a simple flooding attack because of the additional resources used by the SOAP protocol and the resources necessary to process SOAP messages. The transactions used are immaterial as long as they cause resource utilization on the target. In other words, this is a normal flooding attack augmented by using messages that will require extra processing on the target.
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Overview
CAPEC-147 (XML Ping of the Death) is a detailed-level attack pattern catalogued by MITRE in the Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC). It describes a recurring method attackers use to exploit software weaknesses.
How the attack works
The phases an attacker typically follows to carry out this attack.
- Step 1Explore
[Survey the target] Using a browser or an automated tool, an attacker records all instance of web services to process XML requests.
- Use an automated tool to record all instances of URLs to process XML requests.
- Use a browser to manually explore the website and analyze how the application processes XML requests.
- Step 2Exploit
[Launch a resource depletion attack] The attacker delivers a large number of small XML messages to the target URLs found in the explore phase at a sufficiently rapid rate. It causes denial of service to the target application.
- Send a large number of crafted small XML messages to the target URL.
What the attacker needs
Prerequisites
- The target must receive and process XML transactions.
Skills required
- Low skill: To send small XML messages
- High skill: To use distributed network to launch the attack
Resources required
- Transaction generator(s)/source(s) and ability to cause arrival of messages at the target with sufficient rapidity to overload target. Larger targets may be able to handle large volumes of requests so the attacker may require significant resources (such as a distributed network) to affect the target. However, the resources required of the attacker would be less than in the case of a simple flooding attack against the same target.
Consequences
What a successful CAPEC-147 attack can achieve.
Resource Consumption
Affects: Availability
DoS: resource consumption (other)
How to mitigate it
Defenses that reduce the risk of CAPEC-147.
- Design: Build throttling mechanism into the resource allocation. Provide for a timeout mechanism for allocated resources whose transaction does not complete within a specified interval.
- Implementation: Provide for network flow control and traffic shaping to control access to the resources.
Examples
Consider the case of attack performed against the createCustomerBillingAccount Web Service for an online store. In this case, the createCustomerBillingAccount Web Service receives a huge number of simultaneous requests, containing nonsense billing account creation information (the small XML messages). The createCustomerBillingAccount Web Services may forward the messages to other Web Services for processing. The application suffers from a high load of requests, potentially leading to a complete loss of availability the involved Web Service.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about CAPEC-147.
- What is CAPEC-147?
- An attacker initiates a resource depletion attack where a large number of small XML messages are delivered at a sufficiently rapid rate to cause a denial of service or crash of the target. Transactions such as repetitive SOAP transactions can deplete resources faster than a simple flooding attack because of the additional resources used by the SOAP protocol and the resources necessary to process SOAP messages. The transactions used are immaterial as long as they cause resource utilization on the target. In other words, this is a normal flooding attack augmented by using messages that will require extra processing on the target.
- How does a XML Ping of the Death attack work?
- It typically unfolds over 2 phases. It begins with: [Survey the target] Using a browser or an automated tool, an attacker records all instance of web services to process XML requests.
- How do you prevent CAPEC-147?
- Design: Build throttling mechanism into the resource allocation. Provide for a timeout mechanism for allocated resources whose transaction does not complete within a specified interval.
- What weaknesses does CAPEC-147 target?
- CAPEC-147 exploits 2 CWE weaknesses, including CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption), CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling).
- How severe is CAPEC-147?
- MITRE rates CAPEC-147 as Medium severity with low likelihood of attack.
References
Attack-pattern data is sourced from the MITRE CAPEC catalog (v3.9). Weakness associations link to the corresponding CWE entries on RadicalNotion.AI.
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