Hacking

Expert found a way to bypass Windows UAC by mocking trusted Directory

David Wells, a security expert from Tenable, devised a method to bypass Windows’ User Account Control (UAC) by spoofing the execution path of a file in a trusted directory.

A security researcher from Tenable has discovered that is possible to bypass Windows’ User Account Control (UAC) by spoofing the execution path of a file in a trusted directory.

User Account Control (UAC) is a technology and security mechanism that aims to limit application software to standard user privileges until an administrator authorizes an increase or elevation.

Some programs can auto-elevate privileges bypassing UAC, to prevent abuses Windows implements a series of additional security checks to allow that only a specific group of trusted executables can auto-elevate.

Executables that can auto-elevate have specific configuration, need to be properly signed, and to run from a Trusted Directory (i.e. “C:\Windows\System32”).

David Wells researcher discovered the Appinfo.dll (AIS) will use RtlPrefixUnicodeString API to see if the target executable path begins with “C:\Windows\System32\” for one of the trusted directory checks.

Then the researcher created a directory called “C:\Windows \” (with a space after the word “Windows”) by using the CreateDirectory API and prepending a “\\?\” to the directory name and then created a “System32” directory in it.

“So for bypassing this check, I construct a directory called “C:\Windows \” (notice trailing space after “Windows”). This won’t pass the RtlPrefixUnicodeString check of course, and I’ll also mention that this is somewhat invalid (or in the very least “unfriendly”) directory name, as Windows does not allow trailing spaces when you create a directory (try it).” wrote the expert.

“Using the CreateDirectory API however, and prepending a “\\?\” to the directory name I want to create, we can bypass some of these naming filter rules and send the directory creation request directly to file system.”

Then the expert copied a signed, auto elevating executable from “C:\Windows\System32”, and discovered that upon its execution no UAC prompt is triggered.

“When this awkward path is sent to AIS for an elevation request, the path is passed to GetLongPathNameW, which converts it back to “C:\Windows\System32\winSAT.exe” (space removed). Perfect! This is now the string that trusted directory checks are performed against (using RtlPrefixUnicodeString) for the rest of the routine.” explained the expert.

“The beauty is that after the trusted directory check is done with this converted path string, it is then freed, and rest of checks (and final elevated execution request) are done with the original executable path name (with the trailing space). This allows all other checks to pass and results in appinfo.dll spawning my winSAT.exe copy as auto elevated (since it is both properly signed and whitelisted for auto elevation).”

The expert elevated a malicious code simply dropping a fake WINMM.dll (imported by winSAT.exe) in the current directory “C:\Windows \System32\” for a local dll hijack.

Wells published a proof-of-concept code on GitHub.

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – UAC bypass, hacking)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]

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”.

Recent Posts

Cybersecurity giant Fortinet discloses a data breach

Fortinet disclosed a data breach after a threat actor claimed the theft of 440GB of…

9 hours ago

UK NCA arrested a teenager linked to the attack on Transport for London

U.K. police arrested a 17-year-old teenager allegedly linked to the cyberattack on London's public transportation…

10 hours ago

Singapore Police arrest six men allegedly involved in a cybercrime syndicate

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has arrested six individuals for their role in the operations…

18 hours ago

Adobe Patch Tuesday security updates fixed multiple critical issues in the company’s products

Adobe addressed tens of vulnerabilities, including critical issues that could allow attackers to execute arbitrary…

23 hours ago

Highline Public Schools school district suspended its activities following a cyberattack

Highline Public Schools, a school district in Washington state, remains closed following a cyberattack that…

2 days ago

RansomHub ransomware gang relies on Kaspersky TDSKiller tool to disable EDR

Researchers observed the RansomHub ransomware group using the TDSSKiller tool to disable endpoint detection and…

2 days ago

This website uses cookies.