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Microsoft Windows Utility Manager Vulnerability
April 13, 2004
Risk Level: High
Summary:
A local elevation of privileges vulnerability exists on the Windows Utility
Manager that allows to any user to take complete control over the operating
system.
Versions Affected:
All products in the Windows 2000 operating system family.
Details:
Microsoft Windows 2000 contains support for Accessibility options within
the
operating system. Accessibility support is a series of assistive
technologies
within Windows that allow users with disabilities to still be able to
access the
functions of the operating system. Accessibility support is enabled or
disabled
through shortcuts built into the operating system, or through the
Accessibility
Utility Manager. The Utility Manager is an accessibility utility that
allows
users to check the status of Accessibility programs (Magnifier,
Narrator, On-
Screen Keyboard) and start or stop them. The Utility Manager can be
invoked by
pressing Windows Key + U or executing "utilman.exe /start" from the command
line. The Utility Manager Service is enabled by default and runs in the
interactive desktop with Local System privileges.
The Utility Manager has support for context sensitive help. Users can
access
this by clicking in the "?" on the title bar and then on an object or by
pressing the F1 key after selecting an object. In order to display the
help,
Utility Manager loads winhlp32.exe but does not drop System privileges.
Therefore, winhlp32.exe is executed under the Local System account. While
winhlp32.exe is executing it is possible to send Windows messages to it and
attack it with "Shatter" style attacks.
Winhlp32.exe is executed with its main window hidden but it is very
trivial to
make it visible. Once the window is made visible, a typical attack would
involve using the “File Open” dialog to execute a program such as
“cmd.exe.”
Since the Help window has Local System privileges, the executed program
will
have the same privileges.
Further information is available at:
http://www.appsecinc.com/resources/alerts/general/04-0001.html
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2003-0908
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-011.mspx
Fix:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0692C27E-F63A-414C-B3EB-
D2342FBB6C00&displaylang=en
Acknowledgments:
Thanks to Cesar Cerrudo and Esteban Martinez Fayo of Application
Security, Inc. (http://www.appsecinc.com) and to
Brett Moore of Security-Assessment.com (http://security-assessment.com).
Please find the proof-of-concept exploit code attached
___________________________________________
AppSecInc Team SHATTER
Tel: 1-866-927-7732
E-mail: shatter@appsecinc.com
Web: www.appsecinc.com
Application Security, Inc.
"Securing Business by Securing Enterprise Applications"
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