Microsoft Windows Keyboard Event Privilege Escalation Weakness

Bugtraq ID:	14743
Class:	Design Error
CVE:
Remote:	No
Local:	Yes
Published:	Sep 05 2005 12:00AM
Updated:	Sep 05 2005 12:00AM
Credit:	Discovery is credited to Andrés Tarascó and Iñaki Lopez.
Vulnerable:	Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SP2 Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SP1 Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1 Microsoft Windows XP Professional Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition SP1 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2 Microsoft Windows XP Home SP1 Microsoft Windows XP Home Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003 SP1 Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003 Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition SP1 Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Web Edition SP1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Web Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition SP1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Itanium SP1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Itanium 0 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter x64 Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition Itanium SP1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition Itanium 0 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition SP1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition 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:

Microsoft Windows Keyboard Event Privilege Escalation Weakness

Microsoft Windows is prone to a privilege escalation weakness. This issue is due to a design error when desktop applications handle keyboard events sent through the keybd_event() function. The specific issue is that programs may send keyboard events to higher privileged desktop applications.

This poses a local security risk as malicious keyboard events may be sent to a desktop application such as 'explorer.exe' that is running as a higher privileged user. These keyboard events will be interpreted in the context of the target user. This issue could likely be abused after exploitation of a latent remote code execution vulnerability in a service to elevate privileges. In this scenario, a user with higher privileges than the service must be logged into the desktop.

Microsoft Windows Keyboard Event Privilege Escalation Weakness

The following proof-of-concept was released:

• /data/vulnerabilities/exploits/keybd.c

Microsoft Windows Keyboard Event Privilege Escalation Weakness

Solution:
Currently we are not aware of any vendor-supplied patches for this issue. If you feel we are in error or are aware of more recent information, please mail us at: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

Microsoft Windows Keyboard Event Privilege Escalation Weakness

References:

• Microsoft Technet Security (Microsoft)
  
• Microsoft Windows keybd_event validation vulnerability. (Andrés Tarascó)