CVE-2012-1430 in Rising
Summary
by MITRE
The ELF file parser in Bitdefender 7.2, Comodo Antivirus 7424, eSafe 7.0.17.0, F-Secure Anti-Virus 9.0.16160.0, McAfee Anti-Virus Scanning Engine 5.400.0.1158, McAfee Gateway (formerly Webwasher) 2010.1C, nProtect Anti-Virus 2011-01-17.01, Sophos Anti-Virus 4.61.0, and Rising Antivirus 22.83.00.03 allows remote attackers to bypass malware detection via an ELF file with a \19\04\00\10 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 ELF parser implementations.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2019
The vulnerability described in CVE-2012-1430 represents a critical flaw in multiple antivirus solutions' ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) file parsing mechanisms. This issue affects a wide range of security products including Bitdefender, Comodo, F-Secure, McAfee, nProtect, Sophos, and Rising Antivirus, all of which share a common weakness in their ELF parser implementations. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of specific character sequences within ELF files, creating a detection bypass opportunity for malicious actors. The affected software versions all contain a parsing logic error that fails to properly validate or sanitize ELF file structures, particularly when encountering the specific character sequence \19\10 at predetermined locations within the file format.
The technical flaw manifests when these antivirus solutions encounter ELF files containing the problematic character sequence \19\10 at specific offsets within the file structure. This sequence triggers a parsing error that causes the security software to either misinterpret the file structure entirely or completely ignore the file during analysis. The vulnerability operates at the core parsing layer where the antivirus engine attempts to read and analyze executable file formats, specifically targeting the ELF format used primarily on linux systems. This parsing failure creates a condition where malicious ELF files can evade detection mechanisms entirely, as the security software fails to properly analyze the file contents due to the malformed character sequence triggering an unexpected parsing path.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple detection bypass to represent a significant security risk for organizations relying on these antivirus solutions. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious ELF files that contain the specific character sequence, allowing them to deliver malware payloads without triggering alerts from the affected security products. This vulnerability particularly affects enterprise environments where multiple antivirus solutions from different vendors are deployed, as the flaw exists across several major security vendors' products. The implications are severe because it allows attackers to circumvent multiple layers of defense simultaneously, potentially leading to widespread compromise of systems that depend on these security tools for protection against ELF-based malware.
The vulnerability can be categorized under CWE-129 as an improper validation of an input buffer, specifically related to the handling of ELF file structures. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this represents a technique for evasion through the use of malformed file formats to avoid detection, falling under T1027 (Obfuscated Files or Information) and T1204 (User Execution). The affected products all implement similar parsing logic that fails to properly sanitize input from ELF files, creating a common attack surface that can be exploited across different vendors. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input validation and proper error handling in security software, as the simple presence of an unexpected character sequence can cause complete bypass of security mechanisms. Organizations should immediately update their antivirus solutions to versions that address this specific parsing flaw, as the vulnerability affects multiple widely deployed security products.
The widespread nature of this vulnerability across multiple vendors suggests a common implementation pattern that may have originated from shared code bases or similar development approaches. This characteristic makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it represents a systemic weakness rather than an isolated incident. Security researchers have identified that the vulnerability can be exploited by simply crafting ELF files with the specific character sequence at predetermined locations, making it relatively easy for attackers to develop exploit code. The fact that this vulnerability affects such a broad range of security products indicates a need for more rigorous testing of file parsing logic and better handling of edge cases in security software implementations. The potential for this vulnerability to be split into multiple CVEs reflects the complexity of determining whether the same underlying issue exists across different implementations or if separate vulnerabilities were discovered independently.