CVE-2024-27335
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in Kofax Power PDF allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening malicious PNG files. The flaw exists in PNG parsing where improper data validation leads to out-of-bounds reads. Affected users are anyone running vulnerable versions of Kofax Power PDF who might open untrusted PDF files.
💻 Affected Systems
- Kofax Power PDF
📦 What is this software?
Power Pdf by Tungstenautomation
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise with attacker gaining the same privileges as the PDF viewer process, potentially leading to data theft, ransomware deployment, or lateral movement.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation or malware execution within the user context, potentially leading to credential theft or persistence mechanisms.
If Mitigated
Application crash (denial of service) if memory protections prevent code execution, but data corruption or information disclosure may still occur.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening malicious file). The vulnerability is memory corruption-based requiring precise control for reliable exploitation.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Not specified in references, but vendor likely released update
Vendor Advisory: Not provided in references
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Kofax Power PDF
2. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates
3. Install any available updates
4. Restart the application
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable PNG file handling
windowsPrevent Power PDF from processing PNG files by modifying file associations
Control Panel > Default Programs > Set Associations
Find .png extension
Change from Power PDF to another application
Application sandboxing
windowsRun Power PDF in restricted environment to limit impact of exploitation
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized PDF viewers
- Deploy endpoint detection with memory protection features enabled
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Power PDF version against vendor's patched version listCheck Version:
In Power PDF: Help > AboutVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Power PDF version is updated to latest release from official vendor source📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes with memory access violations
- Unexpected child processes spawned from PDF viewer
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from PDF viewer process to suspicious domains
SIEM Query:
Process creation where parent process contains 'powerpdf' AND (command line contains '.png' OR memory allocation anomalies detected)