CVE-2017-15778 in XnView Classic
Summary
by MITRE
XnView Classic for Windows Version 2.43 allows attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted .dwg file, related to a "Read Access Violation starting at CADImage+0x0000000000285de7."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/19/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-15778 affects XnView Classic for Windows version 2.43 and represents a critical denial of service condition that can be triggered through maliciously crafted .dwg files. This issue stems from improper handling of file parsing operations within the CAD image processing component of the software. The vulnerability manifests as a read access violation occurring at the CADImage+0x0000000000285de7 memory address, indicating a fundamental flaw in how the application processes structured data within AutoCAD Drawing files. Such vulnerabilities fall under the CWE-125 weakness category, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions that can lead to unpredictable behavior and system instability.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when the XnView Classic application attempts to parse a specially crafted .dwg file that contains malformed or unexpected data structures. During the parsing process, the CADImage component fails to properly validate memory access patterns, leading to a segmentation fault or access violation that terminates the application. This type of vulnerability can be classified under the ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers "Network Denial of Service" and represents a specific variant of denial of service attacks targeting application parsing routines. The memory access violation at the specific offset suggests that the application's buffer management or pointer arithmetic logic does not adequately handle edge cases in the CAD file format structure.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple application crashes, as it can potentially enable more sophisticated attack vectors. An attacker could leverage this weakness to disrupt legitimate users' ability to access image files, particularly in environments where XnView Classic serves as a primary image viewer for CAD documents. The unspecified other impacts mentioned in the vulnerability description suggest that while denial of service is the primary concern, there may be potential for additional security implications including information disclosure or privilege escalation depending on the execution context. The vulnerability affects a widely used image viewing application that processes various file formats including CAD files, making it a potentially attractive target for adversaries seeking to disrupt productivity in engineering and design environments.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate software updates from the vendor, as the issue was addressed in subsequent releases of XnView Classic. System administrators should implement file validation measures that prevent execution of potentially malicious CAD files, particularly those originating from untrusted sources. Network-level protections such as content filtering and sandboxing mechanisms can provide additional layers of defense against exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies that restrict execution of vulnerable versions of XnView Classic. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and memory management in multimedia applications, particularly those handling complex file formats like CAD documents. Regular security assessments of image processing libraries and components should be conducted to identify similar memory corruption vulnerabilities that could lead to similar denial of service conditions or more severe security implications.