CVE-2008-5724 in Smart Security
Summary
by MITRE
The Personal Firewall driver (aka epfw.sys) 3.0.672.0 and earlier in ESET Smart Security 3.0.672 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted IRP in a certain METHOD_NEITHER IOCTL request to \Device\Epfw that overwrites portions of memory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/23/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-5724 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within the Personal Firewall driver component of ESET Smart Security software. This issue affects versions 3.0.672.0 and earlier, where the epfw.sys driver fails to properly validate input parameters in its handling of METHOD_NEITHER IOCTL requests. The vulnerability manifests when a local attacker sends a specially crafted IRP (I/O Request Packet) to the device path \Device\Epfw, which allows them to manipulate memory regions that should remain protected from user-mode access.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability leverages improper input validation within the kernel-mode driver component, creating a condition where memory corruption can occur through direct manipulation of driver-controlled memory areas. This flaw falls under the CWE-121 category of Stack-based Buffer Overflow, though the specific mechanism involves memory overwrite operations rather than traditional buffer overflow patterns. The driver's insufficient validation of IOCTL parameters enables attackers to craft malicious requests that can overwrite critical memory segments, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution with kernel-level privileges.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to systems running affected ESET Smart Security versions, as local users can exploit it to escalate their privileges from standard user level to SYSTEM level access. The attack vector requires local system access, making it particularly dangerous in environments where users might have legitimate access to systems but should not possess administrative privileges. The impact extends beyond simple privilege escalation to potentially enable full system compromise, as the attacker can execute arbitrary code with the highest level of system permissions. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers privilege escalation through local exploit techniques.
The mitigation strategy for this vulnerability involves immediate patching of ESET Smart Security to versions that address this specific memory corruption issue in the epfw.sys driver. Organizations should prioritize updating their endpoint protection software to ensure the driver properly validates all incoming IOCTL requests and implements proper memory bounds checking. Additionally, system administrators should consider implementing additional security controls such as kernel-mode driver signing requirements and monitoring for unusual IRP activity patterns. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation in kernel-mode drivers and highlights why security patches for endpoint protection software should be applied with high priority.