CVE-2022-30542 Vulnerability Alert: Escalation of Privilege Via Local Access on Certain Intel® Server Systems

Recently, a critical security vulnerability (labeled as CVE-2022-30542) was discovered, affecting the firmware of some Intel® Server Board S260WF, Intel® Server System R100WF, and Intel® Server System R200WF families. This vulnerability, which revolves around improper input validation, allows a privileged user to potentially enable an escalation of privilege through local access. In this post, we will get into the details of this vulnerability, including the affected systems, an analysis of the exploit, and the original references for the vulnerability announcement.

Affected Systems

CVE-2022-30542 affects the firmware of the following Intel® systems, specifically those running before version R02.01.0014:

Exploit Analysis

The CVE-2022-30542 vulnerability occurs due to improper input validation in the firmware of some Intel® server systems listed above. A privileged user (one with local access) can exploit this vulnerability to enable an escalation of privilege, thereby compromising the affected system's security.

To better understand this exploit, let us consider a code snippet to simulate how an attacker can misuse improper input validation:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main() {
    // Attacker sets large input with malicious payload
    char input[1024] = "malicious_payload";
    for (int i = ; i < 100; i++)
        strcat(input, "A");
    
    // Vulnerable function accepts input without proper validation
    vulnerableFunction(input);
    return ;
}

void vulnerableFunction(char* input) {
    // Buffer is unable to hold large inputs
    char buffer[128];
    strcpy(buffer, input); // Attacker's input with malicious payload is copied
    
    // Exploitation occurs here
}

In the example above, vulnerableFunction() copies the input to a buffer that does not have enough space to hold it, due to misuse of the strcpy() function. This can lead to a buffer overflow, allowing the attacker to overwrite adjacent memory locations and execute their malicious payload on the affected system.

In the context of CVE-2022-30542, an attacker exploits improper input validation in the firmware to perform a similar operation, leading to an escalation of privilege.

The security vulnerability CVE-2022-30542 is documented in the following original sources

1. Intel Official Security Advisory: INTEL-SA-00529
2. National Vulnerability Database (NVD): CVE-2022-30542
3. MITRE: CVE-2022-30542 Details

Conclusion

The CVE-2022-30542 vulnerability puts certain Intel® server systems at risk of an escalation of privilege attack via local access. System administrators are highly encouraged to update the firmware on affected systems to version R02.01.0014 or higher to mitigate this vulnerability. Additionally, proper input validation should always be implemented in code to avoid similar security issues in the future.

Timeline

Published on: 11/11/2022 16:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 11/17/2022 15:11:00 UTC