CVE-2023-42521

Vulnerability

A denial-of-service vulnerability exists in certain WithSecure products that allows a remote attacker to cause a crash of the scanning engine via processing a specially crafted compressed file. Affected products include WithSecure Client Security 15, WithSecure Server Security 15, WithSecure Email and Server Security 15, WithSecure Elements Endpoint Protection 17 and later, WithSecure Client Security for Mac 15, WithSecure Elements Endpoint Protection for Mac 17 and later, Linux Security 64 12.0, Linux Protection 12.0, and WithSecure Atlant 1.0.35-1 [1].

Exploitation

An attacker can remotely exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious compressed file to be processed by the scanning engine. No authentication is required, as the scanning engine processes files automatically. The attack vector is over the network, requiring only that the target product's scanning engine encounters the crafted file.

Impact

Successful exploitation leads to a denial-of-service condition, crashing the scanning engine. This may disrupt security scanning functionality but does not result in data compromise or privilege escalation. The crash is limited to the scanning engine, not the entire host system.

Mitigation

WithSecure has issued updates to address this vulnerability. Users should upgrade to the latest versions of the affected products as specified in the security advisory [1]. No workarounds are available.