Demarc PureSecure Weak Password Encryption Vulnerability

BID:4238

Info

Demarc PureSecure Weak Password Encryption Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 4238
Class: Design Error
CVE:
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Mar 02 2002 12:00AM
Updated: Mar 02 2002 12:00AM
Credit: Discovery is credited to <[email protected]>.
Vulnerable: Demarc PureSecure 1.0.5 Windows
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP2
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP1
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP6a
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP5
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP4
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP3
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP2
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP1
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Snort Project Snort 1.8.3
Demarc PureSecure 1.0.5 Unix
- Snort Project Snort 1.8.3
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

Demarc PureSecure Weak Password Encryption Vulnerability

Demarc PureSecure is a commercially available graphical front-end for Snort, in addition to being a generalized network monitoring solution. Snort is a popular open-source NIDS (Network Intrusion Detection System). Demarc will run on most Linux and Unix variants, as well as Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP operating systems.

Users are authenticated into the Demarc PureSecure Snort front-end via a MySQL database. The password used by Demarc is allegedly not properly salted before it is encrypted. The result is that the first two characters remain in plaintext. Additionally, the strength of the encryption algorithm is weakened significantly. The hash of the weakly encrypted password may be viewed by a local attacker who has access to the Snort database.

A local attacker may theoretically exploit this issue to mount a dictionary attack against the weakly encrypted authentication credential.

Exploit / POC

Demarc PureSecure Weak Password Encryption Vulnerability

There is no exploit required. If the attacker is able to view the hash of the weakly encrypted password, this significantly increases the chances of making a successful dictionary attack.

Solution / Fix

Demarc PureSecure Weak Password Encryption Vulnerability

Solution:
Currently the SecurityFocus staff 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]>.

References

Demarc PureSecure Weak Password Encryption Vulnerability

References:

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