CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2019-19741 — Ea Origin security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

Electronic Arts Origin 10.5.55.33574 is vulnerable to local privilege escalation due to arbitrary directory DACL manipulation, a different issue than CVE-2019-19247 and CVE-2019-19248. When Origin.exe connects to the named pipe OriginClientService, the privileged service verifies the client's executable file instead of its in-memory process (which can be significantly different from the executable file due to, for example, DLL injection). Data transmitted over the pipe is encrypted using a static key. Instead of hooking the pipe communication directly via WriteFileEx(), this can be bypassed by hooking the EVP_EncryptUpdate() function of libeay32.dll. The pipe takes the command CreateDirectory to create a directory and adjust the directory DACL. Calls to this function can be intercepted, the directory and the DACL can be replaced, and the manipulated DACL is written. Arbitrary DACL write is further achieved by creating a hardlink in a user-controlled directory that points to (for example) a service binary. The DACL is then written to this service binary, which results in escalation of privileges.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2020-02-20
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application

Affected products

  • ea / origin

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

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Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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