CVE-2018-25369: Visual Ping Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

CVE-2018-25369 Overview

CVE-2018-25369 is a buffer overflow vulnerability in Visual Ping 0.8.0.0 that enables local denial of service attacks. The flaw resides in the application's input field handling logic. Attackers can supply oversized payloads exceeding 4108 bytes into the Host, Time Out, Packet Size, Pause, or Loops fields to crash the application. The weakness is classified under CWE-120: Classic Buffer Overflow. Exploitation requires local access and no authentication, but the impact is limited to application availability.

Critical Impact
A local attacker can crash Visual Ping 0.8.0.0 by injecting payloads larger than 4108 bytes into multiple input fields, producing a reliable denial of service.

Affected Products

Visual Ping 0.8.0.0 (IT Lights)
Earlier builds distributed through third-party download mirrors
No vendor-confirmed CPE entries available

Discovery Timeline

2026-05-25 - CVE-2018-25369 published to NVD
2026-05-26 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2018-25369

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from missing bounds checking on user-controlled input fields in the Visual Ping 0.8.0.0 graphical interface. When a user submits data through the Host, Time Out, Packet Size, Pause, or Loops fields, the application copies the input into a fixed-size stack buffer without validating length. Submitting more than 4108 bytes overruns the buffer and corrupts adjacent stack memory, triggering an unhandled exception. The result is an immediate process crash that denies service to the local user. While the public exploit demonstrates only denial of service, classic stack overflows in unmanaged Windows binaries can sometimes be leveraged for code execution if mitigations like Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) are absent.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper input validation in the GUI input handlers, consistent with [CWE-120]. The application uses unsafe string-copy routines that do not enforce the destination buffer length. Because the affected fields accept free-form text from interactive users, no parser sanitizes the payload before it reaches the vulnerable copy operation.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local interaction with the Visual Ping interface. An attacker with access to the host pastes or scripts a string longer than 4108 bytes into one of the five vulnerable fields, then triggers the ping operation. The oversized input overflows the stack buffer and terminates the process. Remote exploitation is not feasible because the affected fields are reachable only through the local desktop UI. Refer to the Exploit-DB #45316 proof of concept and the VulnCheck Advisory - Visual Ping DoS for technical reproduction details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2018-25369

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected termination of the Visual Ping.exe process accompanied by a Windows Error Reporting (WER) crash event
Application Event Log entries citing APPCRASH with fault module exceptions inside the Visual Ping binary
Presence of user-mode crash dumps in %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps referencing Visual Ping
Clipboard or scripting artifacts containing long repetitive character sequences targeting the application UI

Detection Strategies

Monitor Windows Event ID 1000 (Application Error) where the faulting application matches Visual Ping
Alert on repeated process crashes of the same binary within short time windows on a single host
Track creation of large input strings or automation tooling interacting with the Visual Ping window handle

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward Windows Application and WER logs to a centralized log platform for correlation
Baseline normal process lifetime for Visual Ping and alert on abnormal early termination patterns
Inventory hosts running Visual Ping 0.8.0.0 and flag them for accelerated remediation

How to Mitigate CVE-2018-25369

Immediate Actions Required

Remove Visual Ping 0.8.0.0 from production systems where availability of diagnostic tooling is required
Restrict execution of the binary through application allowlisting on shared or multi-user hosts
Limit interactive logon rights on systems where Visual Ping must remain installed

Patch Information

No vendor patch is available for Visual Ping 0.8.0.0. The product appears unmaintained, and the IT Lights Homepage does not publish a security advisory or updated build. Organizations should replace the tool with a maintained ping or network diagnostic utility.

Workarounds

Replace Visual Ping with a supported alternative such as the built-in Windows ping.exe or a maintained third-party diagnostic tool
Enforce input length limits at the operating system level using application allowlisting policies that block Visual Ping execution
Configure Windows Defender Exploit Guard with DEP and ASLR enforcement for any legacy binary that must remain in use

bash

# Configuration example: block Visual Ping execution via AppLocker (PowerShell)
New-AppLockerPolicy -RuleType Path -User Everyone -Action Deny `
  -Path "%PROGRAMFILES%\Visual Ping\Visual Ping.exe" `
  -RuleNamePrefix "Block-CVE-2018-25369" |
  Set-AppLockerPolicy -Merge