CVE-2011-3162 in Data Protector for Personal Computers
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in HP Data Protector Notebook Extension 6.20 and Data Protector for Personal Computers 7.0 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors, aka ZDI-CAN-1296.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/01/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-3162 represents a critical security flaw within HP Data Protector Notebook Extension 6.20 and Data Protector for Personal Computers 7.0 software products. This unspecified vulnerability creates a potential remote code execution pathway that could be exploited by malicious actors without requiring local system access or authentication. The vulnerability was catalogued under the Zero Day Initiative Canonical Advisory Number 1296, indicating its significance in the cybersecurity landscape and the potential for widespread impact across organizations relying on HP Data Protector solutions. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that the flaw may involve multiple potential entry points or that the specific technical details were not fully disclosed at the time of the initial vulnerability report.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability appears to stem from inadequate input validation or memory management flaws within the Data Protector client software components responsible for handling network communications and data processing tasks. Attackers could potentially leverage this weakness through carefully crafted network requests or data payloads that exploit buffer overflows, format string vulnerabilities, or other memory corruption issues. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that malicious actors could initiate attacks from outside the corporate network, potentially compromising endpoints that are configured to accept connections from remote management systems or backup operations. This characteristic significantly broadens the attack surface and increases the potential impact scope for organizations using these specific versions of HP Data Protector software.
Organizations utilizing affected versions of HP Data Protector Notebook Extension and Personal Computers face substantial operational risks from this vulnerability. The remote code execution capability could enable attackers to gain full control over compromised systems, potentially leading to data exfiltration, system compromise, or use as a pivot point for further attacks within the network infrastructure. The vulnerability's presence in backup and endpoint protection software creates particularly concerning implications since these systems often have elevated privileges and access to critical organizational data. Security operations teams would need to immediately assess their deployment of these specific software versions and implement emergency mitigation strategies to protect against potential exploitation attempts. The impact extends beyond immediate system compromise to include potential regulatory compliance violations and business continuity disruptions.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2011-3162 should prioritize immediate software updates from HP to address the underlying vulnerability. Organizations must ensure that all affected systems are promptly patched with the latest security updates provided by HP, as these patches typically include fixes for the specific memory corruption or input validation flaws that enable remote code execution. Network segmentation and access controls should be implemented to limit exposure of affected systems to untrusted networks, while firewall rules should be configured to restrict unnecessary communication ports and protocols used by the Data Protector client software. Additionally, organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify all instances of the affected software versions and establish monitoring procedures to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK framework techniques including T1059 for command and scripting interpreter and T1071 for application layer protocol, while the underlying technical flaw may correspond to CWE-119 for weakness in memory management and CWE-772 for insufficient resource pool management. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to verify that mitigation measures are effective and to identify any additional vulnerabilities that may exist within the backup and endpoint protection infrastructure.