Check Point Zone Labs Multiple Products Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

iDefense Security Advisory 08.20.07
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/ 
Aug 20, 2007

I. BACKGROUND

Zone Alarm products provide security solutions such as anti-virus,
firewall, spy-ware, and ad-ware protection. More information is
available at the Zone Labs web site at the following URL.

http://www.zonelabs.com/ 

II. DESCRIPTION

Local exploitation of an insecure permission vulnerability in multiple
Check Point Zone Labs products allows attackers to escalate privileges
or disable protection.

The vulnerability specifically exists in the default file Access Control
List (ACL) settings that are applied during installation. When an
administrator installs any of the Zone Labs ZoneAlarm tools, the
default ACL allows any user to modify the installed files. Some of the
programs run as system services. This allows a user to simply replace
an installed ZoneAlarm file with their own code that will later be
executed with system-level privileges.

III. ANALYSIS

Exploitation allows local attackers to escalate privileges to the system
level. It is also possible to use this vulnerability to simply disable
protection by moving all of the executable files so that they cannot
start on a reboot.

IV. DETECTION

iDefense has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability in ZoneAlarm
Security Suite 5.5.062.004 and 6.5.737. It is strongly suspected that
other versions of ZoneAlarm and other Zone Labs products are affected
by this.

V. WORKAROUND

Apply proper Access Control List settings to the directory that
ZoneAlarm Security Suite is installed in. The ACL rules should make
sure that no regular users can modify files in the directory.

VI. VENDOR RESPONSE

Check Point Zone Labs has addressed this vulnerability in version
7.0.362 of their ZoneAlarm products. For more information, consult the
Check Point Zone Labs download page at the following URL.

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/trial_zaFamily/trial_zaFamily.jsp 

VII. CVE INFORMATION

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
name CVE-2005-2932 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in
the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for 
security problems.

VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE

09/29/2005  Initial vendor notification
09/29/2005  Initial vendor response
10/19/2006  Second vendor notification
08/20/2007  Coordinated public disclosure

IX. CREDIT

The discoverer of this vulnerability wishes to remain anonymous.

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X. LEGAL NOTICES

Copyright =A9 2007 iDefense, Inc.

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