======================================================================== Privilege Escalation through Binary Planting in Panda Internet Security ======================================================================== Software: Panda Internet Security 2012 & 2013 Vendor: http://www.pandasecurity.com/ Vuln Type: Binary Planting Attack Remote: No Local: Yes Discovered by: QSecure and Demetris Papapetrou Website: http://www.qsecure.com.cy Discovered: 09/09/2012 Reported: 19/11/2012 Disclosed: 04/12/2012 Vendor's Response: Automatically Generated Email Vulnerability Reference: http://www.qsecure.com.cy/advisories/binary_planting_in_panda.html VULNERABILITY DESCRIPTION: ========================== As a result of an incorrect dynamic link library (DLL) loading in Panda Internet Security, an attacker with user level access to the machine can elevate his/her privileges to SYSTEM. This can be accomplished by planting a malicious DLL file in a writable folder that is part of the system's %PATH% variable. The malicious DLL is loaded when the vulnerable Panda service or the system is restarted. The following DLLs are insecurely loaded by Panda Internet Security 2013: Insecure DLL Vulnerable Service ------------- ------------------ Pavshld.dll PsCtrls.exe, PsImSvc.exe, PavFnSvr.exe, PskSvc.exe ImFilter.dll2 PsImSvc.exe ImFilter.dll3 PsImSvc.exe ImFilter.dll4 PsImSvc.exe In addition to the above DLLs, Panda Internet Security 2012 also loads ham.dll insecurely.