(PT-2008-07) Positive Technologies Security Advisory
VMware Multiple Products hcmon.sys Denial of Service Vulnerability

Affected Software

VMware Workstation 6.0.x, 6.5.x
VMware Player 2.0.x, 2.5.x
VMware ACE 2.0.x
VMware Server 2.x

Product Link:
http://www.vmware.com

Severity Rating

Severity: Medium
Impact: Denial of Service
Attack Vector: Local

CVSS v2
Base Score: 4.4
Temporal Score: 3.4
Vector: (AV:L/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C/E:P/RL:O/RC:C)

CVE: CVE-2009-1146

Vulnerability Description

Positive Technologies Research Team has discovered denial of service vulnerabilities in VMware products.

The IOCTL handler in hcmon.sys does not properly validate buffer data associated with the Irp object, which allows local users with administrative priviligies to crash the system.

Solution

Update to the latest product version: vmware.com.

Workstation 6.5.x Windows 6.5.2 build 156735 or later
Workstation 6.0.x Windows upgrade to at least 6.5.2

Player 2.5.x Windows 2.5.2 build 156735 or later
Player 2.0.x Windows upgrade to at least 2.5.2

ACE 2.5.x Windows 2.5.2 build 156735 or later
ACE 2.0.x Windows upgrade to at least 2.5.2

Server 2.x Windows 2.0.1 build 156745 or later

Disclosure Timeline

10.14.2008 - Vendor notified
10.16.2008 - Vendor replied
10.16.2008 - Sent detailed information
03.31.2009 - Vendor released fixed versions
04.06.2009 - Public disclosure

Credits

This vulnerability was discovered by Nikita Tarakanov, Positive Technologies Research Team.

References

http://en.securitylab.ru/lab/PT-2008-07
http://www.ptsecurity.ru/advisory.asp

Complete list of vulnerability reports published by Positive Technologies Research Team:

http://en.securitylab.ru/lab/
http://www.ptsecurity.ru/advisory.asp

About Positive Technologies

Positive Technologies www.ptsecurity.com is among the key players in the IT security market in Russia.
The principal activities of the company include the development of integrated tools for information security monitoring (MaxPatrol); providing IT security consulting services and technical support; the development of the Securitylab en.securitylab.ru leading Russian information security portal.

Among the clients of Positive Technologies there are more than 40 state enterprises, more than 50 banks and financial organizations, 20 telecommunication companies, more than 40 plant facilities, as well as IT, service and retail companies from Russia, CIS countries, Baltic States, China, Ecuador, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Iran, Israel, Japan, Mexico, South African Republic, Thailand, Turkey and USA.

Positive Technologies is a team of highly skilled developers, advisers and experts with years of vast hands-on experience. The company specialists possess professional titles and certificates; they are the members of various international societies and are actively involved in the IT security field development.