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CVE-2017-8895: Veritas Backup Exec: Authentication bypass

CVE-2017-8895 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Veritas Backup Exec. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

In Veritas Backup Exec 2014 before build 14.1.1187.1126, 15 before build 14.2.1180.3160, and 16 before FP1, there is a use-after-free vulnerability in multiple agents that can lead to a denial of service or remote code execution. An unauthenticated attacker can use this vulnerability to crash the agent or potentially take control of the agent process and then the system it is running on.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.8: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-416: Use After Free

The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory belongs to the code that operates on the new pointer.

Affected products

  • Veritas Backup Exec: before 14.1.1786.1126; before 14.2.1180.3160; before 16.0.1142.1327

References