CVE-2019-25599: Backup Key Recovery DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2019-25599 Overview

CVE-2019-25599 is a denial of service vulnerability affecting Backup Key Recovery version 2.2.4. The vulnerability allows local attackers to crash the application by supplying an excessively long string in the Name field during registration. Attackers can paste a buffer of 300 or more characters into the Name field to trigger an application crash when submitting the form.

Critical Impact

Local attackers can cause a denial of service condition by crashing the Backup Key Recovery application through buffer overflow in the Name field, disrupting legitimate backup key recovery operations.

Affected Products

• Backup Key Recovery version 2.2.4

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-03-22 - CVE CVE-2019-25599 published to NVD
• 2026-03-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2019-25599

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-466 (Return of Pointer Value Outside of Expected Range), indicating the application fails to properly handle input boundaries in the Name field during the registration process. When a user inputs an excessively long string (300+ characters) into the Name field, the application does not perform adequate bounds checking, leading to memory corruption and subsequent application crash.

The local attack vector requires the attacker to have local access to the system where Backup Key Recovery is installed. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability, and no user interaction beyond normal application usage is needed. The impact is limited to availability—there is no confidentiality or integrity breach, but the application becomes unavailable when exploited.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation in the Name field of the registration form. The application fails to enforce proper length restrictions on user-supplied input, allowing arbitrarily long strings to be processed. When the input exceeds expected buffer boundaries, the application's memory handling routines cannot cope with the oversized data, resulting in memory corruption that crashes the application.

Attack Vector

The attack is executed locally by accessing the Backup Key Recovery application's registration interface. An attacker simply needs to:

1. Open the Backup Key Recovery application
2. Navigate to the registration form
3. Paste a string of 300 or more characters into the Name field
4. Submit the form

Upon submission, the application attempts to process the oversized input, triggers the buffer overflow condition, and crashes. This is a straightforward denial of service attack that requires minimal technical sophistication but does require local access to the target system.

Technical details regarding the exploitation mechanism can be found in the Exploit-DB #46750 advisory and the VulnCheck Denial of Service Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2019-25599

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected crashes of the Backup Key Recovery application, particularly during registration or licensing activities
• Application crash logs showing memory access violations or buffer overflow errors
• Presence of abnormally long strings in application input fields or logs

Detection Strategies

• Monitor for repeated application crashes of backeyrecovery.exe or related processes
• Implement endpoint detection rules to alert on application crashes following user input events
• Review Windows Event Logs for application fault events related to Backup Key Recovery

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable application crash reporting and logging on systems running Backup Key Recovery
• Configure endpoint protection solutions to monitor for denial of service patterns against desktop applications
• Establish baseline behavior for the application and alert on deviations such as unexpected terminations

How to Mitigate CVE-2019-25599

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict local access to systems running Backup Key Recovery 2.2.4 to trusted users only
• Consider removing or disabling Backup Key Recovery if not essential to operations
• Monitor for application crashes and investigate any suspicious activity
• Evaluate alternative backup key recovery solutions with better input validation

Patch Information

No vendor patch information is currently available in the NVD database. Users should check the NSA Auditor software download page for potential updates. Consider contacting the vendor directly for information about patched versions that address this vulnerability.

Workarounds

• Limit access to the Backup Key Recovery application to trusted administrators only
• Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized users from launching the application
• Use endpoint protection solutions that can detect and block abnormal input patterns
• Consider running the application in an isolated environment to limit the impact of any denial of service

# Restrict application execution to administrators only (Windows)
# Run in elevated PowerShell
icacls "C:\Program Files\Backup Key Recovery\backeyrecovery.exe" /inheritance:r /grant:r Administrators:RX