CVE-2012-5196 in Condor
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple buffer overflows in Condor 7.6.x before 7.6.10 and 7.8.x before 7.8.4 have unknown impact and attack vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/22/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-5196 represents a critical security flaw affecting Condor distributed computing software versions 7.6.x prior to 7.6.10 and 7.8.x prior to 7.8.4. This issue manifests as multiple buffer overflows that can potentially be exploited to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service conditions within distributed computing environments. Condor is widely deployed in academic and research institutions for managing large-scale distributed computing workloads, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations relying on these systems for critical computational tasks.
The technical nature of these buffer overflows indicates that the software fails to properly validate input lengths when processing data from various sources within the distributed computing framework. These vulnerabilities typically occur when programs write more data to a fixed-length buffer than it can accommodate, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited by attackers. The unspecified impact and attack vectors suggest that the vulnerability could be triggered through multiple pathways within the Condor ecosystem, potentially including job submission processes, communication protocols between Condor daemons, or configuration file processing mechanisms. The buffer overflow conditions create opportunities for attackers to overwrite adjacent memory locations, potentially allowing for code execution or system instability.
The operational impact of CVE-2012-5196 extends beyond simple system crashes or service disruptions, as these vulnerabilities could enable attackers to gain unauthorized access to distributed computing resources. In research environments where Condor manages sensitive computational workloads and data processing, such vulnerabilities could compromise the integrity of research data, allow unauthorized resource consumption, or provide footholds for further attacks within the network infrastructure. The distributed nature of Condor systems means that a single compromised node could potentially affect the entire computing cluster, making these vulnerabilities particularly dangerous in large-scale deployments.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to Condor versions 7.6.10 or 7.8.4, which contain patches addressing these buffer overflow vulnerabilities. System administrators should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their Condor installations to identify any potential exploitation attempts or signs of compromise. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and may also relate to CWE-122 for heap-based buffer overflows that could occur in the software's memory management routines. From an attack perspective, this vulnerability could be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1059 for command and scripting interpreter, as exploitation might involve executing malicious code through compromised Condor processes. Additionally, the vulnerability demonstrates characteristics of privilege escalation opportunities that could be leveraged for lateral movement within networked environments where Condor systems are deployed.