CVE-2014-9328 in ClamAV
Summary
by MITRE
ClamAV before 0.98.6 allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact via a crafted upack packer file, related to a "heap out of bounds condition."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/08/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-9328 represents a critical heap out of bounds condition affecting ClamAV versions prior to 0.98.6. This flaw specifically manifests when processing crafted upack packer files, which are compression formats commonly used in malware distribution and file packaging. The heap out of bounds condition occurs when the application fails to properly validate input data structures during decompression operations, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited by remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking within ClamAV's decompression engine for upack format files. When a maliciously crafted upack file is processed, the application's memory management routines fail to properly validate the size and structure of data segments, allowing an attacker to manipulate memory allocation patterns and overwrite adjacent heap memory regions. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-121 category of heap-based buffer overflow, which is classified as a serious weakness in memory safety mechanisms. The out of bounds memory access can result in unpredictable behavior including application crashes, memory corruption, or potential code execution depending on the specific memory layout and exploitation conditions.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to organizations relying on ClamAV for email filtering, file scanning, and endpoint protection. Attackers can leverage this flaw by delivering malicious upack files through various attack vectors including email attachments, web downloads, or file sharing platforms. The remote nature of the attack means that simply processing a malicious file by ClamAV is sufficient to trigger the vulnerability, making it particularly dangerous for automated scanning environments. The unspecified impact mentioned in the CVE description indicates that exploitation could lead to complete system compromise, as the heap corruption could be leveraged to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the scanning process.
The mitigation strategy for this vulnerability requires immediate deployment of ClamAV version 0.98.6 or later, which includes patches addressing the heap out of bounds condition in the upack packer handling code. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures such as restricting access to known malicious file formats, implementing network segmentation for scanning environments, and maintaining up-to-date threat intelligence feeds to identify and block malicious upack files. Security teams should conduct vulnerability assessments to ensure all ClamAV installations are properly updated and monitor for any exploitation attempts targeting this specific flaw. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter and T1078.004 for valid accounts, as exploitation could potentially lead to privilege escalation or persistent access through compromised scanning services. Organizations should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies to restrict execution of potentially malicious files through the ClamAV scanning pipeline, as well as monitoring for unusual memory access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts.