CVE-2008-2926 in Internet Security Suite 2008
Summary
by MITRE
The kmxfw.sys driver in CA Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) r8, as used in CA Internet Security Suite and Personal Firewall, does not properly verify IOCTL requests, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly gain privileges via a crafted request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/16/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-2926 affects the kmxfw.sys kernel driver component within CA Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System version 8, which is integrated into CA Internet Security Suite and Personal Firewall products. This represents a critical security flaw that resides at the kernel level of the operating system, where the driver fails to properly validate input parameters received through IOCTL (Input/Output Control) requests. The kmxfw.sys driver serves as a core component responsible for implementing host-based intrusion prevention capabilities, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it directly impacts the security posture of systems running the affected software.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the kernel driver's IOCTL handling mechanism. When legitimate IOCTL requests are processed by the kmxfw.sys driver, the system fails to properly validate the parameters and data structures provided by the requesting process. This lack of proper validation creates an opportunity for malicious actors to craft specially crafted IOCTL requests that can trigger unexpected behavior in the kernel space. The vulnerability manifests as either a system crash leading to denial of service conditions or potentially allowing privilege escalation, depending on how the malformed requests are constructed and executed within the kernel context.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to organizations relying on CA HIPS solutions for endpoint protection. Local users with minimal privileges can potentially exploit this flaw to either crash the target system, causing denial of service that disrupts business operations, or in more sophisticated scenarios, gain elevated privileges that could allow them to bypass security controls entirely. The kernel-level nature of the vulnerability means that successful exploitation could result in complete system compromise, as the attacker would be operating within the highest privilege context of the operating system. This makes the vulnerability particularly attractive to threat actors seeking persistent access or system-wide control.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes the weakness of stack-based buffer overflows, and potentially CWE-122, concerning heap-based buffer overflows, as the improper validation of IOCTL parameters could lead to memory corruption issues. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques such as T1068 (Exploitation for Privilege Escalation) and T1499.004 (Authorization Skipping) as it enables local users to potentially escalate their privileges or bypass security controls. The attack surface is particularly concerning given that the vulnerability exists within a security product designed to protect against such threats, creating a paradoxical situation where the defensive mechanism itself contains exploitable code.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches or updates that address the IOCTL validation issues within the kmxfw.sys driver. System administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring and logging around kernel-level activities to detect potential exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and least privilege principles should be enforced to limit the potential impact of successful exploitation, while regular security assessments should be conducted to identify any other potentially vulnerable kernel drivers or system components. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation in kernel-space drivers and the necessity of rigorous security testing for security products themselves.