CVE-2021-46443 in Spoofer
Summary
by MITRE • 04/01/2022
Spoofer 1.4.6 suffers from unquoted service paths vulnerability. An attacker as a low privileged local user can hijack the execution flow of the application to escalate privileges by inserting a malicious executable in a higher level directory with the vulnerable path.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/05/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-46443 affects Spoofer version 1.4.6 and represents a critical security flaw related to improperly quoted service paths. This issue falls under the broader category of service path manipulation vulnerabilities that have been extensively documented in cybersecurity literature and categorized under CWE-177. The vulnerability stems from the service installation process where the executable path contains spaces but lacks proper quotation, creating a predictable attack surface for privilege escalation attempts.
The technical flaw manifests when a service is installed with a path that includes spaces but is not properly quoted, allowing an attacker to place a malicious executable in a directory that appears earlier in the Windows search path. In the case of Spoofer 1.4.6, the service path likely contains directory names with spaces that are not enclosed in quotation marks, creating a window of opportunity for path traversal attacks. This vulnerability directly maps to ATT&CK technique T1036.004 which describes legitimate program replacement and T1543.003 for service installation, both of which are commonly exploited in privilege escalation scenarios.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it allows a low privileged local user to potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. When an attacker places a malicious executable in a directory that is searched before the legitimate Spoofer executable, the system will execute the malicious file instead of the intended application. This creates a persistent backdoor that can be leveraged for further compromise of the system and potentially the entire network. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires minimal privileges to exploit and can result in complete system compromise.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2021-46443 should focus on immediate remediation through proper service path quoting during installation processes. Organizations should ensure that all service paths containing spaces are properly quoted using double quotation marks to prevent path traversal attacks. The recommended approach involves updating Spoofer to a patched version that correctly handles service installation paths or manually correcting the service configuration using Windows service management tools. Additionally, implementing proper access controls and monitoring for unauthorized service installations can help detect potential exploitation attempts. Security professionals should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies and regular security audits to identify and remediate similar path traversal vulnerabilities across the enterprise infrastructure.