NT ZAK and Office97 Backdoor Vulnerability

BID:181

Info

NT ZAK and Office97 Backdoor Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 181
Class: Design Error
CVE: CVE-1999-1431
Remote: No
Local: No
Published: Jan 07 1999 12:00AM
Updated: Jul 11 2009 12:16AM
Credit: This message was posted to NTBugtraq by Mikko Verlinna the solution was posted to NTBugtraq by Satu Laksela.
Vulnerable: Microsoft Zero Administration Kit (ZAK) 1.0
+ Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
+ Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Enterprise Server 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Enterprise Server 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Terminal Server 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Terminal Server 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP3
+ Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP3
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

NT ZAK and Office97 Backdoor Vulnerability

Zero Administration Kit (ZAK) was designed to allow administrators to (among other things) lock down the NT environment and restrict the user's access to certain applications and system functions.

In an instance where the end-user is not allowed to execute Windows Explorer and other "forbidden applications" (ie Quake), the following workaround was noted:

Open Word or Excel.

Select File:Open. Right click on the background of the File:Open window. A prompt will appear that will allow the user to select "Browse". Browse will open Windows Explorer.

Assuming the user has write access to the temp directory, create a special directory in temp and copy in the executables of the forbidden applications to this directory. These applications can now be executed and will circumvent the policies established by ZAK.

References

NT ZAK and Office97 Backdoor Vulnerability

References:

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