CVE-2002-2395 in Interscan Viruswall
Summary
by MITRE
InterScan VirusWall 3.52 for Windows allows remote attackers to bypass virus protection and possibly execute arbitrary code via HTTP 1.1 gzip content encoding.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/14/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2002-2395 represents a critical security flaw in the InterScan VirusWall 3.52 for Windows network security product that was widely deployed in enterprise environments for malware protection. This vulnerability specifically targets the application's handling of HTTP 1.1 gzip content encoding, which is a standard compression method used to reduce data transfer sizes over web connections. The flaw allows remote attackers to craft malicious HTTP requests that exploit how the security appliance processes compressed content, effectively bypassing the virus scanning mechanisms that the product is designed to provide.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation and content handling within the InterScan VirusWall software's HTTP processing module. When the system receives HTTP requests with gzip-encoded content, it fails to properly decompress and scan the contents before allowing them through to the network. This occurs because the software does not adequately validate the integrity of compressed data or perform thorough virus scanning on decompressed content. The flaw essentially creates a pathway where malicious payloads can be embedded within compressed HTTP responses and executed without detection, as the security appliance assumes the compressed content is safe based on flawed processing logic.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe risk to organizations relying on InterScan VirusWall for network protection. Attackers can leverage this weakness to deliver malware, including viruses, worms, and other malicious software, directly through HTTP traffic that should be scanned and blocked by the security appliance. The potential for arbitrary code execution makes this particularly dangerous as it could allow attackers to gain full control over affected systems or establish persistent backdoors within the network. Organizations may experience unauthorized data access, system compromise, and potential lateral movement throughout their network infrastructure, all while the security appliance fails to detect or prevent these attacks.
The vulnerability aligns with several cybersecurity standards and frameworks, particularly CWE-427 which addresses Uncontrolled Search Path Element, and CWE-310 which covers Cryptographic Issues. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1071.004 for Application Layer Protocol: DNS and T1059.001 for Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell, as attackers could potentially use this bypass to deploy malicious scripts or commands. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying vendor patches, disabling gzip content encoding if possible, and implementing additional network monitoring to detect anomalous HTTP traffic patterns. Network segmentation and layered security approaches become crucial when dealing with such fundamental protocol-level vulnerabilities, as the bypass affects core security functionality rather than just specific components. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar issues in other network security appliances and ensure comprehensive protection coverage across the entire infrastructure.