CVE-2000-0428 in InterScan VirusWall
Summary
by MITRE
Buffer overflow in the SMTP gateway for InterScan Virus Wall 3.32 and earlier allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands via a long filename for a uuencoded attachment.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/15/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2000-0428 represents a critical buffer overflow flaw within the SMTP gateway component of InterScan Virus Wall versions 3.32 and earlier. This security weakness specifically manifests when processing uuencoded attachments, creating a pathway for remote attackers to gain unauthorized system control. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the email gateway's handling of file names associated with uuencoded content, allowing malicious actors to exploit memory corruption through carefully crafted oversized filename parameters.
The technical exploitation of this buffer overflow occurs when an attacker sends an email containing a uuencoded attachment with an excessively long filename. The SMTP gateway processes this input without proper bounds checking, causing the buffer to overflow and overwrite adjacent memory locations. This memory corruption can be leveraged to overwrite critical program execution pointers or inject malicious code into the running process, ultimately enabling remote command execution with the privileges of the affected service. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-787, covering out-of-bounds write vulnerabilities that can lead to arbitrary code execution.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to organizations relying on InterScan Virus Wall for email security. Attackers can exploit this flaw to gain complete control over the affected system, potentially leading to data breaches, system compromise, and lateral movement within network environments. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries do not require physical access to the target system, making the vulnerability particularly dangerous for email gateway servers that are often exposed to the internet. The impact extends beyond immediate system compromise, as successful exploitation could enable attackers to establish persistent backdoors, exfiltrate sensitive information, or use the compromised system as a launch point for attacks against other network resources.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation through official vendor patches and updates, as InterScan Virus Wall versions prior to 3.32 are vulnerable to this attack vector. System administrators should implement network segmentation to limit exposure of email gateway services, deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious email traffic patterns, and consider implementing email filtering rules that restrict or block uuencoded attachments entirely. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1190, which covers exploitation of remote services, and T1059, covering command and script injection techniques that attackers may leverage after initial compromise. Additional mitigations include regular security assessments of email infrastructure, implementation of email encryption protocols, and maintaining updated threat intelligence feeds to identify potential exploitation attempts against known vulnerabilities.