HP Data Protector Express is backup and recovery software designed specifically for smaller organizations. It protects single machines or small networks in Windows and Linux environments. Protection is delivered for file servers, application servers and Windows workstations. One of the Data Protector Express components is the dpwinsdr.exe service, which listens on TCP port 3817.

A stack buffer overflow exists in HP Data Protector Express. Specifically, the vulnerable dpwinsdr.exe service copies messages into a fix-sized stack buffer without performing boundary check. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted message to the affected service. Successful exploitation could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected service, which is SYSTEM by default. Failed attacks will cause denial-of-service conditions.

The vulnerability has been assigned as CVE-2012-0121.

SonicWALL has released an IPS signature to detect and block specific exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability. The signature is listed below:

• 8347 HP Data Protector Express Remote Code Execution