CVE-2012-1456 in Trend Micro
Summary
by MITRE
The TAR file parser in AVG Anti-Virus 10.0.0.1190, Quick Heal (aka Cat QuickHeal) 11.00, Comodo Antivirus 7424, Emsisoft Anti-Malware 5.1.0.1, eSafe 7.0.17.0, F-Prot Antivirus 4.6.2.117, Fortinet Antivirus 4.2.254.0, Ikarus Virus Utilities T3 Command Line Scanner 1.1.97.0, Jiangmin Antivirus 13.0.900, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0.0.125, McAfee Anti-Virus Scanning Engine 5.400.0.1158, McAfee Gateway (formerly Webwasher) 2010.1C, NOD32 Antivirus 5795, Norman Antivirus 6.06.12, Panda Antivirus 10.0.2.7, Rising Antivirus 22.83.00.03, Sophos Anti-Virus 4.61.0, AVEngine 20101.3.0.103 in Symantec Endpoint Protection 11, Trend Micro AntiVirus 9.120.0.1004, and Trend Micro HouseCall 9.120.0.1004 allows remote attackers to bypass malware detection via a TAR file with an appended ZIP file. 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 • 09/04/2022
The vulnerability described in CVE-2012-1456 represents a critical flaw in multiple antivirus solutions' handling of archive file parsing, specifically affecting the TAR file format processing within various security applications. This issue stems from inadequate file format validation mechanisms that fail to properly identify and isolate malicious content embedded within legitimate archive structures. The vulnerability affects a broad spectrum of antivirus products including AVG, Quick Heal, Comodo, Emsisoft, and numerous others, indicating a widespread implementation flaw across the security software landscape. The flaw manifests when these applications encounter TAR files that contain appended ZIP archives, creating a scenario where malicious code can evade detection by exploiting the parser's inability to properly handle concatenated file formats.
The technical execution of this vulnerability relies on the fundamental weakness in how these antivirus systems process file headers and content streams. When a TAR file is processed, the parser typically expects a specific format structure where the file header information directly precedes the actual file data. However, in this case, attackers can append ZIP file content to a legitimate TAR file, creating a hybrid structure that confuses the parser. The parser continues to process the TAR portion as expected while simultaneously ignoring or misinterpreting the appended ZIP content, allowing malware to remain undetected. This behavior aligns with CWE-129, which addresses issues related to insufficient input validation and improper handling of malformed input data. The vulnerability essentially represents a case where the security software's file format recognition logic fails to properly validate file boundaries and content integrity.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple detection failure, as it creates a significant attack surface that adversaries can exploit to bypass multiple security layers simultaneously. Attackers can craft malicious TAR files that appear legitimate to security scanners while containing hidden malicious payloads in the appended ZIP sections. This enables sophisticated evasion techniques where malware can remain undetected for extended periods, potentially allowing for data exfiltration, system compromise, or lateral movement within networks. The vulnerability's presence across such a diverse range of security products creates a cascading effect where multiple layers of defense can be simultaneously bypassed, undermining the core principle of defense in depth. From an attacker perspective, this vulnerability maps directly to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for execution through archive files and T1566.001 for initial access through malicious files, making it particularly dangerous in targeted attack scenarios.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching of affected antivirus solutions and implementation of additional validation layers within security infrastructure. Organizations should implement file format validation checks that specifically examine concatenated or hybrid file structures, ensuring that security tools properly identify and reject files with unexpected content combinations. Network-based detection systems should be enhanced to monitor for anomalous file behavior patterns that might indicate the presence of these hybrid malicious files. System administrators should also consider implementing additional sandboxing measures for suspicious archive files, particularly those with unusual file extensions or structures. The vulnerability highlights the importance of comprehensive file format validation and proper boundary checking in security software implementations, emphasizing that traditional signature-based detection alone is insufficient against such structural exploitation techniques. Regular security assessments should include testing for similar parsing vulnerabilities across all file format handlers within security software to prevent future incidents of this nature.