CVE-2007-4199 in The Slueth Kit
Summary
by MITRE
Brian Carrier The Sleuth Kit (TSK) before 2.09 allows user-assisted remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) and prevent examination of certain NTFS files via a malformed NTFS image that triggers (1) dereference of a certain integer value by ntfs_dent.c in fls, or (2) dereference of a certain other integer value by ntfs.c in fsstat.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/27/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-4199 affects The Sleuth Kit (TSK), a widely used digital forensics framework that provides tools for examining disk images and filesystems. This flaw exists in versions prior to 2.09 and represents a critical security issue that impacts the reliability and functionality of forensic analysis operations. The vulnerability specifically targets NTFS filesystem handling within TSK's command-line utilities fls and fsstat, which are essential tools for digital forensics investigators conducting examinations of Windows-based systems. The flaw manifests when processing certain malformed NTFS images that contain corrupted or improperly structured data, leading to application instability and complete failure of the forensic examination process.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and error handling within TSK's NTFS parsing components. When the fls utility processes a malformed NTFS image, the ntfs_dent.c file contains a code path that dereferences an uninitialized or improperly validated integer value, causing the application to crash. Similarly, the fsstat utility suffers from a comparable issue in ntfs.c where another integer value is dereferenced without proper validation checks. These memory access violations occur during the normal operation of parsing NTFS directory entries and filesystem metadata structures, making the vulnerability exploitable through user-assisted remote attack scenarios where an attacker can craft or provide a malicious disk image. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-476, which describes NULL pointer dereference conditions, and represents a classic case of improper input validation leading to application instability.
The operational impact of CVE-2007-4199 extends beyond simple denial of service, as it fundamentally compromises the ability of digital forensics investigators to perform their work effectively. When an examiner encounters a corrupted or intentionally crafted NTFS image, the application crashes completely, preventing any examination of the filesystem contents. This renders the forensic process non-functional for specific cases and potentially causes investigators to lose critical evidence or be unable to complete their analysis within time constraints. The vulnerability affects the core functionality of TSK's forensic tools, making it impossible to process certain types of disk images that might be encountered during investigations of compromised systems. This issue particularly impacts law enforcement agencies, corporate security teams, and digital forensics laboratories that rely on TSK for evidence analysis, as the application failure prevents comprehensive examination of potentially compromised systems.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability focus primarily on upgrading to TSK version 2.09 or later, where proper input validation and error handling have been implemented to prevent the integer dereference conditions. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures such as validating input images through multiple verification tools before processing with TSK, establishing proper error handling procedures in automated forensic workflows, and maintaining backup systems to ensure continuity of operations. Security teams should consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to prevent unauthorized users from providing potentially malicious disk images to forensic systems. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input validation in security-critical applications and highlights the need for proper error handling in forensic tools that must process untrusted data. This issue serves as a reminder of the critical nature of software reliability in digital forensics environments where application crashes can result in loss of evidence and compromised investigations, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1566 for social engineering and T1499 for endpoint disruption.