#VU6919 Heap-based buffer overflow in PuTTY - CVE-2017-6542
Published: June 6, 2017 / Updated: September 14, 2018
Vulnerability identifier: #VU6919
Vulnerability risk: Medium
CVSSv4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/U:Green
CVE-ID: CVE-2017-6542
CWE-ID: CWE-122
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
Public exploit is available
Vulnerable software:
PuTTY
PuTTY
Software vendor:
Simon Tatham
Simon Tatham
Description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause DoS condition on the target system.
The weakness exists due to heap-based buffer overflow bug in the ssh_agent_channel_data function of PuTTY. A remote attacker can send an agent protocol message containing large length value, connect to the Unix-domain socket representing the forwarded agent connection, trigger memory corruption and execute arbitrary code with privileges o the current user or cause the system to crash.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may result in system compromise.
The weakness exists due to heap-based buffer overflow bug in the ssh_agent_channel_data function of PuTTY. A remote attacker can send an agent protocol message containing large length value, connect to the Unix-domain socket representing the forwarded agent connection, trigger memory corruption and execute arbitrary code with privileges o the current user or cause the system to crash.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may result in system compromise.
Remediation
Update to version 0.68 or later.