iDefense Security Advisory 01.07.08 http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/ Jan 07, 2008 I. BACKGROUND Motorola netOctopus is an asset management agent. It is used to deploy software, monitor performance, and configure client machines from a central administrative console. More information can be found on the vendor's site at the following URL. http://www.netopia.com/software/products/netoctopus/ II. DESCRIPTION Local exploitation of a privilege escalation vulnerability in Motorola Inc.'s netOctopus could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in kernel context. The netOctopus Agent software is supposed to be installed on all client machines. It includes a driver, nantsys.sys, that is loaded at system boot time. This driver exposes a device interface, \\.\NantSys, that is writable by all users. This driver includes functionality for reading and writing arbitrary CPU Model Specific Registers (MSRs). Changing MSR values allows tuning of various low level CPU operations. By modifying SYSENTER_EIP_MSR, is is possible to execute arbitrary attacker supplied code in kernel context by executing a sysenter instruction. III. ANALYSIS Exploitation of this vulnerability results in the execution of arbitrary code in kernel context. Unsuccessful attempts may result in a system crash. However, due to the nature of the vulnerability exploitation is extremely reliable. IV. DETECTION iDefense has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability in version 5.0.0.115 of the nantsys.sys driver as included with netOctopus version 5.1.2 build 1011. Previous versions may also be affected. V. WORKAROUND Remove write permissions for the Everyone group for the \\.\NantSys device. This can be accomplished by using a tool like WinObj. This will prevent regular users from writing to the device. VI. VENDOR RESPONSE To address this vulnerability, Motorola Inc. has made a script available to remove the affected driver from the system. For more information, consult their advisory at the following URL. http://www.netopia.com/support/software/technotes/netoctopus/Removing_the_nantsys_Driver.pdf http://www.netopia.com/support/software/technotes/netoctopus/removeNantsys.vbs VII. CVE INFORMATION The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the name CVE-2007-5761 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for security problems. VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE 09/07/2007 Initial vendor notification 09/07/2007 Initial vendor response 01/07/2008 Coordinated public disclosure IX. CREDIT This vulnerability was reported to iDefense by Stephen Fewer of Harmony Security (www.harmonysecurity.com). Get paid for vulnerability research http://labs.idefense.com/methodology/vulnerability/vcp.php Free tools, research and upcoming events http://labs.idefense.com/ X. LEGAL NOTICES Copyright © 2008 iDefense, Inc. Permission is granted for the redistribution of this alert electronically. It may not be edited in any way without the express written consent of iDefense. If you wish to reprint the whole or any part of this alert in any other medium other than electronically, please e-mail customerservice@private for permission. Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, this information.
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