ZDI-10-283: Novell ZENWorks Remote Management Agent Uninitialized Pointer Remote Code Execution Vulnerability http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-10-283 December 13, 2010 -- CVSS: 10, (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C) -- Affected Vendors: Novell -- Affected Products: Novell Zenworks -- Vulnerability Details: This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Novell ZENWorks. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the ZenRem32.exe process which listens by default on TCP and UDP ports 1761. When processing incoming connections with specific version fields the process fails to initialize a string buffer intended to hold the name of the client. After making allocations based on the size of the uninitialized string, ZenRem32 proceeds to convert the buffer between wide-char and multi-byte data types. As the pointer is directed at uninitialized memory, this can be abused to corrupt the heap. An attacker can leverage this to execute remote code under the context of the SYSTEM user. -- Vendor Response: Novell states: Fixed in ZENworks 7 Desktop Management Support Pack 1 Interim Release 4 Hot Patch 5: http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=r9kcCymJ7Os Documented in TID 7007320 http://www.novell.com/support/dynamickc.do?cmd=show&forward=nonthreadedKC&docType=kc&externalId=7007320&sliceId=1 -- Disclosure Timeline: 2010-06-30 - Vulnerability reported to vendor 2010-12-13 - Coordinated public release of advisory -- Credit: This vulnerability was discovered by: * sb -- About the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI): Established by TippingPoint, The Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) represents a best-of-breed model for rewarding security researchers for responsibly disclosing discovered vulnerabilities. Researchers interested in getting paid for their security research through the ZDI can find more information and sign-up at: http://www.zerodayinitiative.com The ZDI is unique in how the acquired vulnerability information is used. TippingPoint does not re-sell the vulnerability details or any exploit code. Instead, upon notifying the affected product vendor, TippingPoint provides its customers with zero day protection through its intrusion prevention technology. Explicit details regarding the specifics of the vulnerability are not exposed to any parties until an official vendor patch is publicly available. Furthermore, with the altruistic aim of helping to secure a broader user base, TippingPoint provides this vulnerability information confidentially to security vendors (including competitors) who have a vulnerability protection or mitigation product. Our vulnerability disclosure policy is available online at: http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/disclosure_policy/ Follow the ZDI on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thezdi