CVE-2012-1428 in Quick Heal
Summary
by MITRE
The TAR file parser in Quick Heal (aka Cat QuickHeal) 11.00, Norman Antivirus 6.06.12, and Sophos Anti-Virus 4.61.0 allows remote attackers to bypass malware detection via a POSIX TAR file with a \4a\46\49\46 character sequence at a certain location. NOTE: this may later be SPLIT into multiple CVEs if additional information is published showing that the error occurred independently in different TAR parser implementations.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/24/2018
The vulnerability described in CVE-2012-1428 represents a significant weakness in the TAR file parsing implementations of several major antivirus solutions including Quick Heal, Norman Antivirus, and Sophos Anti-Virus. This issue stems from improper handling of specific character sequences within POSIX TAR archives, creating a detection bypass mechanism that allows malicious payloads to evade security scanning. The flaw specifically manifests when a TAR file contains the character sequence \4a\46\49\46 at a particular location within the archive structure, which corresponds to the ASCII characters 'JPEG' in octal representation. This vulnerability demonstrates a critical gap in signature-based detection systems where the presence of legitimate file headers or specific character patterns can be exploited to mask malicious content.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability lies in how these antivirus solutions process TAR file headers and metadata during scanning operations. When the parser encounters the specific \4a\46\49\46 sequence at the designated offset, it appears to misinterpret the file structure or incorrectly classify the archive contents, potentially leading to the parser treating the malicious payload as benign or legitimate. This behavior aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of the boundaries of a resource, and represents a classic case of input validation failure in archive parsing. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically affects the file format parsing functionality within antivirus engines, making it particularly dangerous as it targets the fundamental mechanism used to identify and block malicious files.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple detection bypass, as it affects multiple enterprise security solutions simultaneously. Organizations relying on these antivirus platforms face significant risk of malware infiltration since the attack vector involves standard file formats that are commonly used in legitimate operations. The vulnerability enables attackers to craft TAR archives that contain malicious code but appear harmless to the affected antivirus solutions, potentially allowing for successful delivery of trojans, rootkits, or other malware variants. This weakness creates a window of opportunity for threat actors to exploit the security gap without requiring sophisticated attack techniques, as the vulnerability can be triggered through standard file distribution methods such as email attachments, web downloads, or removable media.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address both immediate defensive measures and long-term architectural improvements in antivirus parsing implementations. Security administrators should immediately update their antivirus solutions to versions that contain patches for this specific vulnerability, as the affected vendors would have released remediation updates. Additionally, organizations should implement layered security approaches including network-based file filtering, sandboxing of suspicious files, and enhanced monitoring of file access patterns. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and boundary checking in security software implementations, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for execution through archive files and T1204.002 for exploitation through malicious files. Organizations should also consider implementing additional file integrity checks and behavioral analysis to detect anomalous patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, since this vulnerability could potentially be combined with other techniques to create more sophisticated attack vectors.