Description
Multiple TCP implementations could allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (bandwidth and CPU exhaustion) by setting the maximum segment size (MSS) to a very small number and requesting large amounts of data, which generates more packets with less TCP-level data that amplify network traffic and consume more server CPU to process.
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.
Exploit-DB 1
- HP-UX 11 / Linux Kernel 2.4 / Windows 2000/NT 4.0 / IRIX 6.5 - Small TCP MSS Denial of Service EDB-20997 · dos · Jul 7, 2001 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
References
- 20010708 Small TCP packets == very large overhead == DoS? mailing-list
- tcp-mss-dos(6824) vdb-entry
- 2997 vdb-entry