CVE-2026-43837 in ADAM-3600
Summary
by MITRE • 10/20/2026
A buffer overflow vulnerability in the password verification functionality could allow an attacker with guest authentication to achieve code execution.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/20/2026
The identified vulnerability represents a critical security flaw within the password verification subsystem, specifically manifesting as a buffer overflow condition. This type of defect typically arises when software writes more data to a fixed-length block of memory than it is designed to hold, causing adjacent memory locations to be overwritten with unintended values. In this specific context, the input handling mechanism responsible for processing user-supplied credentials fails to adequately validate or bound-check the length of the password string before copying it into a pre-allocated buffer on the stack or heap. This lack of rigorous boundary checking allows an attacker who has already obtained guest-level authentication privileges to supply a carefully crafted, excessively long payload that exceeds the allocated memory space. The immediate technical consequence is the corruption of adjacent memory structures, which can include return addresses, function pointers, or other control data critical for program execution flow.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses a severe risk because it enables privilege escalation and remote code execution from a low-privilege account. While guest authentication typically restricts access to sensitive system resources, the ability to execute arbitrary code effectively bypasses these restrictions by hijacking the process control flow. An attacker can leverage this flaw to inject shellcode or redirect execution to existing malicious routines within the application memory space. This transformation of a simple input validation error into full code execution capability significantly lowers the barrier for exploitation, allowing even unskilled attackers with basic network access and guest credentials to compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the underlying system. The impact extends beyond mere data exposure, as it can lead to complete system takeover, installation of backdoors, or use of the compromised host as a pivot point for further attacks against internal networks.
This vulnerability aligns closely with Common Weakness Enumeration identifier CWE-120, which describes buffer copy without checking size limits, and is often associated with CWE-787 if it involves out-of-bounds write access to memory locations. In terms of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this exploitation technique falls under Tactic 6: Defense Evasion or Tactic 7: Command and Control, specifically relating to techniques that allow an attacker to bypass authentication mechanisms and establish persistent control over a compromised host through arbitrary code execution such as DLL side-loading or stack-based buffer overflow exploits. The presence of guest-level access requirements indicates that the vulnerability is remotely exploitable if network services are exposed, making it particularly dangerous in internet-facing environments where automated scanning tools frequently target known weaknesses in login interfaces.
To mitigate this risk, immediate remediation efforts should focus on implementing strict input validation and bounds checking within the password verification module. Developers must ensure that all user-supplied inputs are validated against maximum allowed lengths before being processed or copied into memory buffers. Utilizing modern programming languages with automatic memory management can significantly reduce the likelihood of such low-level memory corruption errors, but for legacy systems written in C or C++, explicit length checks and safe string handling functions like strncpy_s or similar bounded alternatives must be employed. Additionally, deploying runtime protection mechanisms such as Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Prevention (DEP), and stack canaries can help detect and prevent the execution of injected code even if a buffer overflow occurs. Regular security audits, static application security testing, and dynamic analysis should be integrated into the development lifecycle to identify similar flaws in other input-handling routines before they reach production environments.