Vulnerability in Windows Phone OS could allow information disclosure

Microsoft Security Advisory reveals a vulnerability in Windows Phone OS that could allow information disclosure

Microsoft has issued a security advisory related to a vulnerability in Windows Phone OS that could allow information disclosure, the flaw is related to

Wireless PEAP-MS-CHAPv2 Authentication used by Windows Phone to access to wireless network.

According the Microsoft Security Advisory (2876146) a hacker exploiting the vulnerability in Windows Phone OS could access to victims encrypted domain credentials that could be used to collect sensitive data from corporate networks.

“To exploit this issue, an attacker controlled system could pose as a known WI-Fi access point, causing the targeted device to automatically attempt to authenticate with the access point, and in turn allowing the attacker to intercept the victim’s encrypted domain credentials. An attacker could then exploit cryptographic weaknesses in the PEAP-MS-CHAPv2 protocol to obtain the victim’s domain credentials. Those credentials could then be re-used to authenticate the attacker to network resources, and the attacker could take any action that the user could take on that network resource.” stated the bulletin.

The flaw is related to the WiFi authentication scheme (PEAP-MS-CHAPv2) implemented in Windows Phones for the access to wireless networks that are secured through WI-Fi Protected Access protocol version 2. The affected phone OSs are Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.8, Microsoft experts recommend to apply the suggested action to require a certificate verifying a wireless access point before starting an authentication process.

Despite the exploitation of the flaw could have serious consequences and could allow attackers to steal corporate data Microsoft hasn’t yet received any reports related incidents so it does not intend to patch this vulnerability.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Vulnerability in Windows Phone OS, Hacking)

Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.