CVE-2023-2847 - Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in ESET Products: Understanding, Prevention, and Patching

A local privilege escalation vulnerability, labeled as CVE-2023-2847, has been discovered during an internal security analysis of ESET products. This vulnerability allowed users with low privileges to exploit improper privilege management and execute actions with root privileges on machines with affected ESET products installed.

This blog post will discuss the details of CVE-2023-2847, provide a code snippet that demonstrates the vulnerability, link to original references on the issue, and delve into the exploit details. Additionally, we'll share information on how ESET has addressed the vulnerability and made new builds of their products more secure.

CVE-2023-2847 - Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Explained

The issue stems from a lack of proper privilege management within certain ESET products, ultimately allowing an attacker with low privileges to perform actions typically reserved for root users. Local privilege escalation attacks can lead to full system compromise if exploited successfully.

Code Snippet

To illustrate the vulnerability, here's a simplified code snippet that demonstrates how an attacker might exploit the improper privilege checking:

import os

def exploit_privilege_escalation():
    low_privilege_action = "LowPrivilegeAction"
    high_privilege_action = "HighPrivilegeAction"

    # Low privilege user input:
    user_input = "HighPrivilegeAction"

    # Improper privilege checking leads to privilege escalation:
    if user_input == low_privilege_action:
        os.system("LowPrivilegeAction")
    else:
        os.system("HighPrivilegeAction")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    exploit_privilege_escalation()

As shown in the code snippet, when a low privilege user provides an input of "HighPrivilegeAction", the improper privilege checking leads to the execution of the high privilege action.

In-depth information on the CVE-2023-2847 vulnerability can be found in the following references

- CVE Reference
- ESET Security Bulletin

Exploit Details

An attacker exploiting this vulnerability can potentially gain unrestricted access to system resources, allowing them to perform unauthorized actions, modify critical system files, or even install and execute malicious code. This can lead to system instability, data loss, or unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Mitigation and Patching

To remedy the risk posed by CVE-2023-2847, ESET has released new builds of its products with proper privilege management, eliminating the local privilege escalation vulnerability. Users of affected ESET products are strongly encouraged to update their software to the latest versions.

To download and install the latest versions of ESET software, visit the ESET Download Center.

Conclusion

CVE-2023-2847 highlights the importance of thorough security analysis and proper privilege management in software development. By identifying and addressing this vulnerability, ESET has taken essential steps to ensure their products maintain a high level of security for users.

Users of ESET products are advised to update their software immediately to mitigate the risk posed by the CVE-2023-2847 vulnerability. Staying up-to-date with security patches and regularly monitoring for known vulnerabilities are crucial practices for maintaining a secure computer environment.

Timeline

Published on: 06/15/2023 08:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 07/05/2023 13:28:00 UTC