CVE-2019-25551 in Sandboxie
Summary
by MITRE • 03/21/2026
Sandboxie 5.30 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows local attackers to crash the application by supplying an excessively long string in the Program Alerts configuration field. Attackers can paste a buffer of 5000 characters into the 'Select or enter a program' field during program alert configuration to trigger an application crash.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/27/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-25551 resides within Sandboxie version 5.30, a widely used application virtualization and isolation tool designed to create secure environments for running potentially malicious software. This particular flaw represents a classic buffer overflow condition that manifests specifically within the Program Alerts configuration functionality of the software. The vulnerability exploits a lack of proper input validation mechanisms within the application's user interface, particularly when processing user-supplied data in the 'Select or enter a program' field. Security researchers have classified this issue as a denial of service vulnerability, indicating that while it does not directly enable privilege escalation or data compromise, it can severely disrupt the normal operation of the application.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking within the application's input handling routines. When a user attempts to configure program alerts by entering data into the designated field, the software fails to properly validate the length of the input string before processing it. This deficiency allows attackers to craft malicious input sequences that exceed the allocated buffer space, causing the application to crash or terminate unexpectedly. The specific trigger mechanism requires an attacker to input a string containing exactly 5000 characters, which serves as the threshold that overflows the designated memory buffer and forces the application into an unstable state. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and demonstrates poor input validation practices that violate fundamental secure coding principles.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to users who rely on Sandboxie for security isolation purposes. Local attackers with access to the system can exploit this weakness to cause service disruption, forcing users to restart the application and potentially losing their current configuration settings. The impact extends beyond simple inconvenience as it can interrupt critical security workflows where users depend on consistent application behavior. In enterprise environments, this vulnerability could be leveraged to create persistent service disruptions or to mask more sophisticated attacks by causing the security application to become unavailable. The vulnerability's local nature means that exploitation does not require network access or complex attack vectors, making it particularly concerning for environments where user access controls may be insufficient.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2019-25551 involves immediate patching of the affected Sandboxie version, as the software vendor has released updates that address the buffer overflow condition through proper input validation and length checking mechanisms. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management procedures to ensure all instances of the vulnerable software are updated promptly. Additionally, system administrators should consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit local user privileges, reducing the potential impact of such vulnerabilities. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under T1499, which covers network denial of service attacks, though the local exploitation aspect places it more specifically within the realm of local privilege escalation techniques. Users should also be educated about the risks of pasting untrusted content into application configuration fields, as this vulnerability demonstrates how simple user interaction with malicious input can lead to system instability. Organizations should conduct regular vulnerability assessments to identify similar input validation flaws in other applications and implement automated testing procedures to detect such buffer overflow conditions during development cycles.