CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-36166 — Veritas Infoscale security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.3

An issue was discovered in Veritas InfoScale 7.x through 7.4.2 on Windows, Storage Foundation through 6.1 on Windows, Storage Foundation HA through 6.1 on Windows, and InfoScale Operations Manager (aka VIOM) Windows Management Server 7.x through 7.4.2. On start-up, it loads the OpenSSL library from \usr\local\ssl. This library attempts to load the \usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file, which may not exist. On Windows systems, this path could translate to <drive>:\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf, where <drive> could be the default Windows installation drive such as C:\ or the drive where a Veritas product is installed. By default, on Windows systems, users can create directories under any top-level directory. A low privileged user can create a <drive>:\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine, resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts. This gives the attacker administrator access on the system, allowing the attacker (by default) to access all data, access all installed applications, etc.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.3 (3.1)
Published
2021-01-06
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
windows/system

Affected products

  • veritas / infoscale
  • veritas / infoscale_operations_manager
  • veritas / storage_foundation
  • veritas / storage_foundation_and_high_availability

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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