Low rate DoS attack to monoprocess servers

Abstract

In this work1, we present a vulnerability in monoprocess or monothreaded servers that allows the execution of DoS attacks with the peculiarity that they are generated by low rate traffic. This feature makes the attack less vulnerable to detection by current IDS systems, which usually expect high rate traffic. The intruder can take advantage of some knowledge about the inter-output times in the server to build the attack. We have simulated and tested it in a real environment, obtaining worrying conclusions due to the efficiency achieved by the attack, with low effort from the attacker. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.