CVE-2020-37179: APKF Product Key Finder DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2020-37179 Overview

CVE-2020-37179 is a denial of service vulnerability affecting APKF Product Key Finder version 2.5.8.0. The vulnerability stems from a classic buffer overflow condition (CWE-120) in the application's registration name input field. Attackers can exploit this flaw by crafting an oversized payload of approximately 1000 characters and pasting it into the 'Name' field, causing the application to crash.

Critical Impact

Local attackers can crash the APKF Product Key Finder application through buffer overflow in the registration name field, resulting in denial of service and potential disruption of software license management activities.

Affected Products

• APKF Product Key Finder 2.5.8.0
• NSAuditor Product Key Finder (related product line)

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-11 - CVE CVE-2020-37179 published to NVD
• 2026-02-12 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2020-37179

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as a buffer overflow (CWE-120: Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input). The application fails to properly validate the length of user-supplied input in the registration 'Name' field before copying it into a fixed-size buffer. When a user pastes an excessively long string (approximately 1000 characters) into this field, the input exceeds the allocated buffer size, corrupting adjacent memory and causing the application to crash.

The local attack vector requires user interaction—specifically, the victim must paste the malicious payload into the vulnerable input field. While this limits the attack surface compared to network-exploitable vulnerabilities, it remains a concern in environments where untrusted data may be copied into the application, such as through social engineering attacks or malicious clipboard content.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper input validation in the registration dialog's name field handler. The application allocates a fixed-size buffer for the registration name but does not enforce boundary checks when copying user input. This classic buffer copy without size validation allows input longer than the expected maximum to overflow the allocated memory region, leading to application instability and crashes.

Attack Vector

The attack requires local access and user interaction. An attacker can craft a payload consisting of a string of approximately 1000 characters (or more) and deliver it to a victim who then pastes this string into the APKF Product Key Finder registration name field. The oversized input triggers a buffer overflow condition that crashes the application.

The exploitation is straightforward and requires no special privileges beyond the ability to interact with the application. The attack can be delivered through various social engineering methods, such as:

• Providing a "registration key" document containing the malicious string
• Exploiting clipboard hijacking to automatically place the payload in the user's clipboard
• Embedding the payload in phishing materials disguised as legitimate registration information

For technical details on exploitation, see the Exploit-DB #47937 entry and the VulnCheck Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2020-37179

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected crashes of the APKF Product Key Finder application, particularly during registration attempts
• Windows Event Log entries indicating application crashes with memory access violations
• User reports of application instability when entering registration information
• Presence of unusually long text strings in clipboard history or recent documents

Detection Strategies

• Monitor for repeated application crashes of APKF Product Key Finder processes using Windows Event Viewer or SIEM integration
• Deploy endpoint detection rules to identify buffer overflow crash signatures associated with the application
• Implement application whitelisting and integrity monitoring to detect tampering or exploitation attempts
• Review clipboard activity logs if available for unusually long text strings being pasted into applications

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure endpoint protection to alert on application crashes with memory corruption indicators
• Enable crash dump collection for the APKF Product Key Finder application to facilitate forensic analysis
• Monitor for social engineering attempts targeting users with fake registration information
• Implement SentinelOne Singularity Platform for automated detection and response to exploitation attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2020-37179

Immediate Actions Required

• Consider discontinuing use of APKF Product Key Finder version 2.5.8.0 until a patched version is available
• Restrict which users have access to the application and educate them about the risk of pasting untrusted content
• Implement application isolation or sandboxing to limit the impact of crashes
• Deploy endpoint protection solutions to detect and prevent exploitation attempts

Patch Information

No official vendor patch information is available in the CVE data. Organizations should check the NSAuditor website for any updates or newer versions of the software that may address this vulnerability. Until a patch is available, implementing the workarounds below is recommended.

Workarounds

• Avoid copying and pasting registration information from untrusted sources into the application
• Manually type registration details rather than pasting them to prevent overflow conditions
• Run the application in an isolated environment or virtual machine to contain any crash impact
• Consider alternative product key recovery tools that do not have this vulnerability
• Implement input validation at the operating system level using Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)

Organizations using SentinelOne can leverage the Singularity Platform's behavioral AI to detect and block exploitation attempts targeting buffer overflow vulnerabilities like CVE-2020-37179, providing an additional layer of protection while awaiting vendor patches.