CVE-2018-6856
CWE-119Published: July 9, 2018· Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Official Description
Sophos SafeGuard Enterprise before 8.00.5, SafeGuard Easy before 7.00.3, and SafeGuard LAN Crypt before 3.95.2 are vulnerable to Local Privilege Escalation via IOCTL 0x8020601C. By crafting an input buffer we can control the execution path to the point where a global variable will be written to a user controlled address. We can take advantage of this condition to zero-out the pointer to the security descriptor in the object header of a privileged process or modify the security descriptor itself and run code in the context of a process running as SYSTEM.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2018-6856 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.
Exploitation requires low privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.
A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 7.8.
From a weakness classification perspective (CWE-119): Buffer overflow vulnerabilities can lead to arbitrary code execution or denial of service by corrupting adjacent memory.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
Official Patches & Advisories
All References (6)
Quick Facts
Related CVEs (CWE-119)
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2018-6856 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts