(0Day) Hewlett-Packard Client Automation Agent Stack Based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

July 20th, 2015

Vulnerability Details


This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Hewlett-Packard Client Automation. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within the Hewlett-Packard Client Automation agent. An attacker can send a large buffer of data to the agent which will cause a stack buffer overflow. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the SYSTEM.

Additional Details


This vulnerability is being disclosed publicly without a patch in accordance with the ZDI 120 day deadline.

05/28/2015 - ZDI sent the report to HP SSRT (believing the product was licensed to or by HP).
06/15/2015 - HP SSRT replied to ZDI that ZDI should contact Persistent Systems about any reports concerning the product.
06/15/2015 - ZDI asked HP SSRT for a contact.
06/15/2015 - HP SSRT advised ZDI that they had tried their known contacts and failed.
06/25/2015 - ZDI wrote to Persistent requesting contact, but there was no reply.
07/09/2015 - ZDI wrote to Persistent requesting contact, but there is no reply to date.

-- Mitigation:

Given the nature of the vulnerability, the only salient mitigation strategy is to restrict interaction with the service to trusted machines. Only the clients and servers that have a legitimate procedural relationship with the service should be permitted to communicate with it. This could be accomplished in a number of ways, most notably with firewall rules/whitelisting. These features are available in the native Windows Firewall, as described in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725770%28WS.10%29.aspx and numerous other Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.

-- Vendor Mitigation:

Guidelines to secure the remote notify feature:
https://support.accelerite.com/hc/en-us/articles/203659814-Accelerite-releases-solutions-and-best-practices-to-enhance-the-security-for-RBAC-and-Remote-Notify-features


Disclosure Timeline

  • 2015-05-28 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2015-07-20 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

Juan Vazquez, Rapid7, Inc.

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