Critical Veritas Vulnerability Allows Attackers to Execute Malicious Code

A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Veritas’ Arctera InfoScale product, a solution widely used for disaster recovery and high availability scenarios.

The issue lies in the insecure deserialization of untrusted data in the .NET remoting endpoint, allowing attackers to execute malicious code on affected systems.

Critical Veritas Vulnerability

The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-27816, has a severity rating of Critical with a high CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8.

It affects versions of Arctera InfoScale Enterprise for Windows, including 7.0, 7.0.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.3.1, 7.4, 7.4.1, 7.4.2, 8.0, 8.0.1, and 8.0.2.

Additionally, earlier unsupported versions of Arctera/Veritas InfoScale are also susceptible to this security flaw.

Issue Breakdown

• Vulnerability Origin: The vulnerability arises from the insecure deserialization of potentially untrusted data in the Plugin_Host service, which is a part of the InfoScale product. This service is specifically used in disaster recovery configurations set up via the DR wizard.
• Implication: An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the server, leading to severe security breaches.
• Affected Systems: The vulnerability impacts servers running the Plugin_Host service, which is active when applications are configured for disaster recovery.

Mitigation Strategies

To address this critical vulnerability, users have two primary mitigation options:

1. Disable the Service: On each node in the InfoScale cluster, the Veritas Plug-in Host Service (Plugin_Host) should be stopped and set to a disabled state. This action will prevent attackers from exploiting the deserialization flaw.
2. Manual DR Configuration: Alternatively, users can opt to configure disaster recovery applications manually without using the vulnerable component. This approach avoids reliance on the compromised service.

Veritas acknowledged and expressed gratitude to Sina Kheirkhah, a security researcher from watchTowr, for responsibly disclosing the vulnerability.

This collaborative effort highlights the importance of community-driven cybersecurity, ensuring that critical issues are identified and resolved promptly.

As this vulnerability poses significant risks, it is essential for organizations using the affected versions of InfoScale to implement the recommended mitigation measures promptly to safeguard their systems against potential attacks.

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