Description

Substance3D - Sampler is affected by a Stack-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability that could result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction in that a victim must open a malicious file.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-25T18:17:52.993Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-25T18:17:52.993Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Substance3D - Sampler is susceptible to a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability that permits arbitrary code execution within the security context of the user running the application.\nThe flaw stems from improper validation of input data during the processing of specially crafted files.\nSuccessful exploitation necessitates user interaction, specifically the opening of a malicious file provided by an attacker.\nIf triggered, the vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary machine code, potentially leading to a complete compromise of the local user environment.\nThis vulnerability poses a significant risk to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, as the execution of malicious payloads can bypass standard application-level security controls.\nThere is no requirement for prior authentication or elevated privileges, provided the user can be coerced into interacting with the malicious file.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is a classic stack-based buffer overflow occurring within Substance3D - Sampler. This occurs when the application allocates a fixed-size buffer on the stack for storing data parsed from a file, but fails to perform adequate bounds checking before writing the input data into that buffer.\nThe root cause lies in the application's input parsing logic, which processes untrusted file structures. When a malicious file containing data exceeding the capacity of the assigned stack memory is processed, the excess data overwrites adjacent memory addresses. This typically includes the saved return address on the stack.\nBy carefully crafting the overflow payload, an attacker can overwrite the return pointer to redirect the instruction pointer (EIP/RIP) to an attacker-controlled memory location. This redirected flow allows the execution of arbitrary shellcode or the triggering of Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) chains to bypass common memory protections such as Data Execution Prevention (DEP) or Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR).\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: 1) The attacker creates a malformed file containing an oversized data field designed to trigger the overflow. 2) The attacker social-engineers the victim into opening this file using Substance3D - Sampler. 3) The application’s parser reads the malicious input into an insufficiently sized buffer, overwriting the stack frame. 4) Upon function return, the CPU jumps to the memory address specified by the malicious payload. 5) Arbitrary code execution occurs with the privileges of the logged-in user.\nBecause the execution occurs in the context of the current user, the payload inherits the permissions and security tokens of that user. This enables the attacker to perform lateral movement, establish persistence, or exfiltrate sensitive data from the host. The lack of robust input sanitization and length validation in the affected parsing function remains the primary weakness facilitating this exploit. Given the nature of the application, which is designed to ingest complex file formats, the parsing component is a critical attack surface that fails to enforce strict memory safety boundaries."
}