Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Security Essentials up to 4.1. It has been rated as critical. The impacted element is the function HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Security Client of the component Registry. Performing a manipulation of the argument "UninstallString"="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Client\Setup.exe /X" results in memory corruption. Additionally, an exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Microsoft Security Essentials up to 4.1. This affects the function HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Security Client of the component Registry. The manipulation of the argument "UninstallString"="C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Security Client\\Setup.exe /X" with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The weakness was released 05/04/2013 by Stefan Kanthak as not defined mailinglist post (Bugtraq). It is possible to read the advisory at seclists.org. The public release was coordinated with Microsoft. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Attacking locally is a requirement. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Technical details and a public exploit are known.

After immediately, there has been an exploit disclosed. It is declared as proof-of-concept. We expect the 0-day to have been worth approximately $25k-$100k.

Upgrading to version 4.2 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published before and not just after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at OSVDB (93081†). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Microsoft

Name

• Security Essentials

Version

• 4.0
• 4.1

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.microsoft.com/

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