CVE-2018-18328 in Trend Micro
Summary
by MITRE
A KERedirect Untrusted Pointer Dereference Privilege Escalation vulnerability in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac (Consumer) 7.0 (2017) and above could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on vulnerable installations. The issue results from the lack of proper validation function on 0x6F6A offset user-supplied buffer. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/06/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-18328 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac versions 7.0 and later, specifically affecting consumer editions released in 2017 and subsequent deployments. This issue manifests as a kernel-level vulnerability that operates through the KERedirect component, which serves as a kernel extension responsible for handling various system interactions. The flaw occurs when the system processes user-supplied data without adequate validation, creating a pathway for malicious code execution that can bypass normal security boundaries. The vulnerability's exploitation requires local system access, meaning an attacker must first establish a foothold with limited privileges before attempting to leverage this specific weakness.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in an unvalidated pointer dereference at a specific memory offset of 0x6F6A within the kernel extension's processing logic. This offset represents a location where user-provided buffer data is directly accessed without proper bounds checking or input sanitization. When malicious data is written to this memory location, the kernel extension fails to validate whether the pointer references valid memory regions, allowing for arbitrary memory access patterns. The vulnerability operates at the kernel level, where the system's security model is fundamentally compromised, as successful exploitation can elevate privileges from standard user accounts to system-level administrator access.
This privilege escalation vulnerability has significant operational impact within enterprise and consumer environments where Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac is deployed. The requirement for local system access means that attackers can potentially exploit this vulnerability through various initial compromise vectors such as social engineering, phishing attacks, or other local exploitation techniques. Once exploited, the vulnerability enables attackers to gain complete system control, potentially allowing them to install malicious software, access sensitive data, modify system configurations, or establish persistent backdoors. The nature of the vulnerability also means that it affects all installations running the vulnerable version, creating a widespread security risk across affected deployments.
The vulnerability maps directly to CWE-476 which defines NULL Pointer Dereference, and specifically relates to improper input validation in kernel-mode drivers. From an attack perspective, this flaw aligns with techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation tactics, particularly focusing on kernel-mode exploitation techniques. The vulnerability demonstrates a classic case of insufficient validation of untrusted data, where user-supplied input is processed without proper security checks. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches, disabling unnecessary kernel extensions, and implementing monitoring for unusual kernel-level activities. Additionally, system administrators should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all affected systems and ensure proper access controls are in place to limit potential exploitation vectors. The incident highlights the critical importance of kernel-level security validation and proper input sanitization in security software components that operate with elevated privileges.