CVE-2017-10674 in Antivirus Engine
Summary
by MITRE
Antiy Antivirus Engine 5.0.0.06281654 allows local users to cause a denial of service (BSOD) via a long third argument in a DeviceIoControl call.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/21/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-10674 affects Antiy Antivirus Engine version 5.0.0.06281654 and represents a critical denial of service flaw that can be exploited by local attackers to trigger a Blue Screen of Death. This vulnerability arises from insufficient input validation within the antivirus engine's DeviceIoControl implementation, specifically when processing the third argument of device control calls. The flaw demonstrates a classic buffer overflow condition where the system fails to properly validate the length of input parameters before processing them, creating an opportunity for arbitrary code execution or system instability.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the antivirus engine's failure to enforce proper bounds checking on device control parameters. When a local user crafts a DeviceIoControl call with an excessively long third argument, the system's internal buffer management routines become overwhelmed, leading to memory corruption that ultimately results in kernel-level system crashes. This behavior aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which addresses heap-based buffer overflow scenarios. The vulnerability specifically manifests as a privilege escalation vector since local users can leverage this flaw without requiring elevated privileges, making it particularly dangerous in multi-user environments where antivirus engines typically run with elevated permissions.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to system availability and stability, particularly in enterprise environments where antivirus solutions are deployed across numerous endpoints. The potential for a Blue Screen of Death to occur during routine system operations can result in data loss, productivity disruption, and increased administrative overhead for system recovery. Attackers could potentially exploit this vulnerability to repeatedly crash systems, creating persistent denial of service conditions that would require manual intervention to resolve. The impact extends beyond simple system instability as organizations may experience cascading failures when multiple systems within a network become compromised, particularly in environments where antivirus solutions are configured to automatically update or perform system scans.
The mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patching of the affected antivirus engine version, as well as implementing additional security controls to monitor and restrict DeviceIoControl calls from unauthorized local processes. Organizations should consider deploying endpoint detection and response solutions that can identify anomalous DeviceIoControl patterns and alert security teams to potential exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and privilege separation measures can help limit the impact of local privilege escalation attacks, while regular system monitoring should include checks for unusual BSOD patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability also highlights the importance of secure coding practices in antivirus software development, particularly around input validation and buffer management, as outlined in the ATT&CK framework's mitigation strategies for privilege escalation techniques. System administrators should implement regular vulnerability assessments to identify similar issues in other security software components and maintain updated threat intelligence to detect potential exploitation attempts.