CVE-2025-65320

Title

Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Licensing Material in Process Memory in Abacre Restaurant Point of Sale (POS)

Overview

A vulnerability exists in Abacre Restaurant Point of Sale (POS) versions <= 15.0.0.1656 where sensitive licensing data is stored in cleartext in process memory during the software activation workflow.

During the license activation procedure, the application generates and processes device‑bound license keys that are intended to validate the software installation against a specific machine. However, these values are allocated in process memory without adequate protection or secure memory handling mechanisms.

Because these values remain in memory in plain form, an attacker with local access can attach a debugger to the running process and extract the licensing material directly from memory.

This allows recovery of valid license keys that can then be reused to activate the software on the same machine without purchasing a license.

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Affected Product

Product: Abacre Restaurant Point of Sale (POS)
Vendor: Abacre Limited
Affected Versions: <= 15.0.0.1656

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Vulnerability Type

Primary weakness:

• CWE-316 — Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in Memory

Related weakness:

• CWE-200 — Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

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Technical Details

During the activation routine, the POS application performs the following operations:

1. The user initiates the activation process through the graphical interface.
2. The application generates and processes device‑specific licensing parameters.
3. The resulting license key and related activation values are stored in process memory as standard heap allocations.
4. These values remain in memory in cleartext form during the activation workflow.

The application does not implement protections such as:

• Secure memory buffers
• Explicit memory zeroization
• Encryption of sensitive values in memory
• Anti‑debugging or memory access protections

As a result, the license key can be extracted using common reverse‑engineering techniques.

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Vulnerability Trigger

The issue occurs during the license activation attempt, when the application processes and validates licensing material.

At this stage:

• The license key
• Device‑bound activation data
• Internal validation strings

are all temporarily stored in process memory without obfuscation or protection.

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Exploitation Scenario

An attacker with local access to the machine can perform the following steps:

1. Launch the POS application.
2. Initiate the software activation workflow.
3. Attach a debugger (e.g., x64dbg, WinDbg, etc.) to the running process.
4. Inspect the process memory or create a memory dump.
5. Search for ASCII/Unicode strings corresponding to license key patterns.

Because the license key is stored in cleartext memory, it can be extracted directly from the process memory space.

The extracted key can then be reused to activate the software on the same machine without purchasing a license.

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Evidence

Memory Analysis

The following images show debugger output and runtime memory inspection where the license keys are visible in process memory during activation.

![Memory Analysis Evidence]

![Debugger Memory View]

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Activated Software

The following images demonstrate successful activation using the recovered license key.

![Activated Software Screenshot]

![Activation Confirmation]

![Activated UI State]

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Impact

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to:

• Recover valid device‑bound license keys
• Bypass the vendor's software licensing mechanism
• Activate the application without purchasing a legitimate license

While this issue primarily impacts software licensing integrity, it demonstrates improper handling of sensitive information in memory.

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Root Cause

The vulnerability is caused by insecure handling of sensitive licensing data in memory. Specifically:

• Sensitive values are stored as plaintext strings
• Memory is not cleared after use
• No in‑memory encryption or obfuscation is applied
• The process lacks anti‑debugging protections

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Recommended Mitigations

To prevent similar vulnerabilities, the vendor should:

• Avoid storing licensing secrets in plaintext memory
• Use secure memory allocation mechanisms
• Implement in‑memory encryption or obfuscation
• Clear sensitive buffers immediately after use
• Implement anti‑debugging protections
• Move sensitive validation logic to a server‑side licensing model

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Disclosure Timeline

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