CVE-2016-4307 in Kaspersky
Summary
by MITRE
A denial of service vulnerability exists in the IOCTL handling functionality of Kaspersky Internet Security KL1 driver. A specially crafted IOCTL signal can cause an access violation in KL1 kernel driver resulting in local system denial of service. An attacker can run a program from user-mode to trigger this vulnerability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/20/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-4307 represents a critical denial of service flaw within the kernel-mode driver component of Kaspersky Internet Security KL1. This issue specifically manifests in the driver's handling of Input/Output Control (IOCTL) operations, which are essential mechanisms for communication between user-mode applications and kernel-mode drivers in Windows operating systems. The flaw resides in the KL1 driver's inability to properly validate or process maliciously crafted IOCTL requests, creating a pathway for unauthorized system disruption.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the kernel driver's IOCTL dispatch routine. When a user-mode process submits a specially crafted IOCTL request to the KL1 driver, the driver fails to properly sanitize the input parameters before processing them. This leads to an access violation exception that causes the kernel driver to crash, resulting in a system-wide denial of service condition. The vulnerability operates at the kernel level, making it particularly dangerous as it can compromise the stability of the entire operating system. The flaw aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which covers heap-based buffer overflow conditions, as the improper input handling likely involves memory corruption scenarios.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple system instability, as it provides attackers with a means to disrupt critical security services provided by Kaspersky Internet Security. Since the vulnerability can be triggered from user-mode applications, it requires minimal privileges to exploit, making it accessible to any local user or malicious software running on the system. The denial of service condition affects the kernel driver itself, potentially causing system crashes, blue screen errors, or complete system lockups. This disruption can have severe implications for system availability, particularly in enterprise environments where security software is critical for maintaining operational continuity and protecting against other threats. The vulnerability demonstrates a clear path from local user execution to system-wide compromise, representing a significant weakness in the security software's architecture.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-4307 should focus on both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. The primary solution involves applying the vendor-provided security patches released by Kaspersky to address the IOCTL handling flaws in the KL1 driver. System administrators should also implement monitoring solutions to detect anomalous IOCTL activity patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and privilege separation can help limit the potential impact of such vulnerabilities by reducing the attack surface available to local users. From a defensive perspective, the vulnerability highlights the importance of kernel-mode security reviews and proper input validation practices, as recommended by the ATT&CK framework's defense evasion techniques. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as driver signature enforcement and kernel integrity checking to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in the future. The incident underscores the critical need for robust kernel-mode security testing and the implementation of secure coding practices that prevent memory corruption vulnerabilities from reaching production environments.