CVE-2024-55412 in Serial Driver x64
Summary
by MITRE • 01/07/2025
A vulnerability exits in driver snxpsamd.sys in SUNIX Serial Driver x64 - 10.1.0.0, which allows low-privileged users to read and write arbitary i/o port via specially crafted IOCTL requests . This can be exploited for privilege escalation, code execution under high privileges, and information disclosure. These signed drivers can also be used to bypass the Microsoft driver-signing policy to deploy malicious code.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/22/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-55412 resides within the SUNIX Serial Driver x64 version 10.1.0.0, specifically in the snxpsamd.sys driver component. This driver is designed to manage serial communication interfaces on Windows systems and operates at kernel level, making it a critical component for system security. The flaw manifests as a lack of proper input validation and access control within the driver's implementation of DeviceIoControl handling routines, which process IOCTL (Input/Output Control) requests from user-mode applications. The vulnerability allows an attacker to craft malicious IOCTL requests that bypass normal security boundaries and directly manipulate hardware I/O ports through the driver interface.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of IOCTL control codes and parameters within the driver's dispatch routine. When a user-mode application sends a specially crafted IOCTL request to the driver, the kernel-level component fails to properly validate the request parameters, particularly those related to I/O port operations. This design flaw falls under CWE-129 Input Validation and CWE-362 Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization, as the driver does not adequately protect shared kernel resources from unauthorized access. The vulnerability enables arbitrary read and write operations to I/O ports, which can be leveraged to manipulate hardware registers, access memory locations, and potentially gain access to sensitive system information that would normally be protected by the kernel's memory management and hardware protection mechanisms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation to encompass full system compromise capabilities. Low-privileged users can exploit this flaw to execute code with kernel-level privileges, effectively bypassing standard Windows security controls including User Access Control and privilege separation mechanisms. This escalation path allows attackers to read arbitrary memory locations, modify system-critical data structures, and potentially inject malicious code into the kernel space. The ability to perform arbitrary I/O port operations can also enable information disclosure attacks where sensitive data stored in hardware registers or memory-mapped I/O regions becomes accessible to unauthorized users. Furthermore, the vulnerability can be used to circumvent Microsoft's driver signing requirements, as the vulnerable driver is signed and trusted by the operating system, providing a legitimate code execution path for malware deployment that would otherwise be blocked by security policies.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-55412 should focus on both immediate remediation and long-term security enhancements. The most effective immediate solution involves patching the vulnerable driver with the latest version from SUNIX, which should include proper input validation and access control mechanisms for IOCTL requests. Organizations should also implement runtime protection measures such as Windows Defender Application Control or similar kernel-mode protection frameworks to restrict driver loading and execution. The vulnerability's exploitation aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068 Privilege Escalation through Driver Loading and T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter, making behavioral monitoring and anomaly detection crucial for identifying potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, system administrators should conduct comprehensive security assessments to identify other potentially vulnerable drivers and implement principle of least privilege access controls to minimize the impact of similar vulnerabilities in the future. Regular security audits and driver verification processes should be established to prevent the installation of untrusted or vulnerable kernel-mode components that could provide similar attack vectors.