CVE-2024-1241 in Watchdog
Summary
by MITRE • 04/23/2024
Watchdog Antivirus v1.6.415 is vulnerable to a Denial of Service vulnerability by triggering the 0x80002014 IOCTL code of the wsdk-driver.sys driver.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/23/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-1241 affects Watchdog Antivirus version 1.6.415 and represents a critical denial of service weakness within the software's kernel-mode driver component. This issue manifests through the manipulation of the wsdk-driver.sys driver which exposes the 0x80002014 IOCTL (Input/Output Control) code, allowing malicious actors to disrupt the normal operation of the antivirus service. The vulnerability resides in the driver's insufficient validation of input parameters and lack of proper error handling mechanisms when processing specific IOCTL commands, creating an exploitable condition that can be leveraged to crash the system or render the antivirus protection ineffective.
The technical flaw operates at the kernel level through the Windows driver model architecture, where the wsdk-driver.sys component fails to adequately sanitize or validate the parameters passed during IOCTL processing. When an attacker sends a crafted 0x80002014 IOCTL request to the driver, the system's kernel becomes vulnerable to memory corruption or resource exhaustion conditions that ultimately lead to system instability or complete service disruption. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which covers heap-based buffer overflow scenarios, as the improper input handling can result in memory corruption. The vulnerability demonstrates characteristics of privilege escalation and system compromise potential, as it operates at the kernel level with elevated privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the entire system security posture. When the watchdog antivirus service becomes unavailable due to the denial of service condition, the system loses its real-time protection capabilities against malware and other security threats. Attackers can exploit this weakness to create persistent system instability, making the affected system vulnerable to additional attacks or compromising the integrity of the security infrastructure. This vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers system shutdown/reboot by unresponsive system, and represents a significant risk to enterprise environments where antivirus protection is critical for maintaining security hygiene. The affected system may experience complete service unavailability, requiring manual intervention to restore normal operations and potentially allowing other malicious activities to go undetected.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-1241 should focus on immediate patching of the Watchdog Antivirus software to version 1.6.416 or later, which contains the necessary driver modifications to address the IOCTL parameter validation issues. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to systems running vulnerable antivirus software and consider disabling unnecessary driver interfaces until proper patches are applied. System administrators should monitor for suspicious IOCTL activity patterns and implement enhanced logging for kernel-mode driver operations. Additionally, the vulnerability highlights the importance of driver code review and input validation practices, as recommended in the OWASP Secure Coding Practices and NIST Special Publication 800-144 guidelines for secure software development. Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar issues in other kernel-mode components, while maintaining up-to-date threat intelligence to detect exploitation attempts targeting this specific vulnerability.