__________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN Vulnerability in Windows Kernel [Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS07-066)] December 11, 2007 21:00 GMT Number S-079 [REVISED 14 Dec 2007] [REVISED 20 Dec 2007] ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way that the Windows Kernel processes certain access requests. PLATFORM: Windows Vista (all editions) Storage Management Appliance v2.0 Software running on : Storage Management Appliance I, II, III DAMAGE: Elevation of privilege. SOLUTION: Upgrade to the appropriate version. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY The risk is MEDIUM. An elevation of privilege. ASSESSMENT: ______________________________________________________________________________ LINKS: CIAC BULLETIN: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/s-079.shtml ORIGINAL BULLETIN: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-066.mspx ADDITIONAL LINK: Visit Hewlett-Packard's Subscription Service for: HPSBST02299 SSRT071506 rev. 1 CVE: http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name= CVE-2007-5350 ______________________________________________________________________________ REVISION HISTORY: 12/14/2007 - revised S-079 to reflect changes Microsoft has made in MS07-066 where they updated that user rights on the system are not a mitigating factor for the vulnerability. 12/20/2007 - revised S-079 to reflect changes Microsoft has made in MS07-066 to reflect a change to the Removal Information text in the Reference Table portion of the Security Update Information Section and to add a link to Hewlett-Packard HPSBST02299 SSRT071506 rev. 1 for Storage Management Appliance v2.0 Software running on : Storage Management Appliance I, II, III. [***** Start Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS07-066) *****] Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-066 – Important Vulnerability in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (943078) Published: December 11, 2007 | Updated: Decemer 19, 2007 Version: 1.2 General Information Executive Summary This important security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Windows kernel. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full administrative rights. This is an important security update for supported editions of Windows Vista. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section. For more information about the vulnerabilities, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information. Recommendation. Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update at the earliest opportunity. Known Issues. None Top of section Affected and Non-Affected Software The following software have been tested to determine which versions or editions are affected. Other versions or editions are either past their support life cycle or are not affected. To determine the support life cycle for your software version or edition, visit Microsoft Support Lifecycle. Affected Software Operating System Maximum Security Impact Aggregate Severity Rating Bulletins Replaced by this Update Windows Vista Elevation of Privilege Important None Windows Vista x64 Edition Elevation of Privilege Important None Non-Affected Software Operating System Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Windows XP Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium based systems Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Windows Server x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Vulnerability Information Severity Ratings and Vulnerability Identifiers Vulnerability Severity Rating and Maximum Security Impact by Affected Software Affected Software Windows Kernel Vulnerability - CVE-2007-5350 Aggregate Severity Rating Windows Vista Important Elevation of Privilege Important Windows Vista x64 Edition Important Elevation of Privilege Important Top of section Windows Kernel Vulnerability - CVE-2007-5350 An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way that the Windows kernel processes certain access requests. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to run code and to take complete control of the system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full administrative rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. To view this vulnerability as a standard entry in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list, see CVE-2007-5350. Mitigating Factors for Windows Kernel Vulnerability - CVE-2007-5350 Mitigation refers to a setting, common configuration, or general best-practice, existing in a default state, that could reduce the severity of exploitation of a vulnerability. The following mitigating factors may be helpful in your situation: • An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users. Top of section Workarounds for Windows Kernel Vulnerability - CVE-2007-5350 Microsoft has not identified any workarounds for this vulnerability. Top of section FAQ for Windows Kernel Vulnerability - CVE-2007-5350 What is the scope of the vulnerability? This is an elevation of privilege vulnerability. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system, including installing programs; viewing, changing, or deleting data; or creating new accounts that have full privileges. What causes the vulnerability? Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call (ALPC) improperly validates certain conditions in legacy reply paths. What is the kernel? The kernel is the core of the operating system and it provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system. What might an attacker use the vulnerability to do? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system, including installing programs; viewing, changing, or deleting data; or creating new accounts that have full privileges. How could an attacker exploit the vulnerability? To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and take complete control over the affected system. What systems are primarily at risk from the vulnerability? Systems that are running Windows Vista are the systems that are primarily at risk. What does the update do? The update removes the vulnerability by modifying the way that the Windows kernel validates certain conditions in legacy reply paths. When this security bulletin was issued, had this vulnerability been publicly disclosed? No. Microsoft received information about this vulnerability through responsible disclosure. Microsoft had not received any information to indicate that this vulnerability had been publicly disclosed when this security bulletin was originally issued. When this security bulletin was issued, had Microsoft received any reports that this vulnerability was being exploited? No. Microsoft had not received any information to indicate that this vulnerability had been publicly used to attack customers and had not seen any examples of proof of concept code published when this security bulletin was originally issued. Top of section Top of section Update Information Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance Manage the software and security updates you need to deploy to the servers, desktop, and mobile computers in your organization. For more information see the TechNet Update Management Center. The Microsoft TechNet Security Web site provides additional information about security in Microsoft products. Security updates are available from Microsoft Update, Windows Update, and Office Update. Security updates are also available from the Microsoft Download Center. You can find them most easily by doing a keyword search for "security update." Finally, security updates can be downloaded from the Microsoft Update Catalog. The Microsoft Update Catalog provides a searchable catalog of content made available through Windows Update and Microsoft Update, including security updates, drivers and service packs. By searching using the security bulletin number (such as, “MS07-036”), you can add all of the applicable updates to your basket (including different languages for an update), and download to the folder of your choosing. For more information about the Microsoft Update Catalog, see the Microsoft Update Catalog FAQ. Detection and Deployment Guidance Microsoft has provided detection and deployment guidance for this month’s security updates. This guidance will also help IT professionals understand how they can use various tools to help deploy the security update, such as Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Office Update, the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), the Office Detection Tool, Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), and the Extended Security Update Inventory Tool. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 910723. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) allows administrators to scan local and remote systems for missing security updates as well as common security misconfigurations. For more information about MBSA, visit Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. The following table provides the MBSA detection summary for this security update. Software MBSA 2.0.1 Windows Vista See Note for Windows Vista below Windows Vista x64 Edition See Note for Windows Vista below Note for Windows Vista Microsoft does not support installing MBSA 2.0.1 on computers that run Windows Vista, but you may install MBSA 2.0.1 on a supported operating system and then scan the Windows Vista-based computer remotely. For additional information about MBSA support for Windows Vista, visit the MBSA Web site. See also Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 931943: Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) support for Windows Vista. For more information about MBSA 2.0.1, see MBSA 2.0 Frequently Asked Questions. Windows Server Update Services By using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), administrators can deploy the latest critical updates and security updates for Windows 2000 operating systems and later, Office XP and later, Exchange Server 2003, and SQL Server 2000 to Windows 2000 and later operating systems. For more information about how to deploy this security update using Windows Server Update Services, visit the Windows Server Update Services Web site. Systems Management Server The following table provides the SMS detection and deployment summary for this security update. Software SMS 2.0 SMS 2003 Windows Vista No See Note for Windows Vista below Windows Vista x64 Edition No See Note for Windows Vista below For SMS 2.0, the SMS SUS Feature Pack, which includes the Security Update Inventory Tool (SUIT), can be used by SMS to detect security updates. See also Downloads for Systems Management Server 2.0. For SMS 2003, the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU) can be used by SMS to detect security updates that are offered by Microsoft Update and that are supported by Windows Server Update Services. For more information about the SMS 2003 ITMU, see SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates. SMS 2003 can also use the Microsoft Office Inventory Tool to detect required updates for Microsoft Office applications. For more information about the Office Inventory Tool and other scanning tools, see SMS 2003 Software Update Scanning Tools. See also Downloads for Systems Management Server 2003. Note for Windows Vista Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 with Service Pack 3 includes support for Windows Vista manageability. For more information about SMS, visit the SMS Web site. For more detailed information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 910723: Summary list of monthly detection and deployment guidance articles. Top of section Security Update Information Affected Software For information about the specific security update for your affected software, click the appropriate link: * Windows Vista (all editions) Other Information Acknowledgments Microsoft thanks the following for working with us to help protect customers: • Thomas Garnier of SkyRecon for reporting the Windows Kernel Vulnerability (CVE-2007-5350). Support • Customers in the U.S. and Canada can receive technical support from Microsoft Product Support Services at 1-866-PCSAFETY. There is no charge for support calls that are associated with security updates. • International customers can receive support from their local Microsoft subsidiaries. There is no charge for support that is associated with security updates. For more information about how to contact Microsoft for support issues, visit the International Support Web site. Disclaimer The information provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Microsoft disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages so the foregoing limitation may not apply. Revisions • V1.0 (December 11, 2007) Bulletin published. • V1.1 (December 12, 2007) Bulletin updated to reflect that user rights on the system are not a mitigating factor for the vulnerability. • V1.2 (December 19, 2007) Bulletin updated to reflect a change to the Removal Information text in the Reference Table portion of the Security Update Information section. [***** End Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS07-066) *****] _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Microsoft for the information contained in this bulletin. _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination among computer security teams worldwide. CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. CIAC can be contacted at: Voice: +1 925-422-8193 (7x24) FAX: +1 925-423-8002 STU-III: +1 925-423-2604 E-mail: ciac@ciac.org Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are available from the CIAC Computer Security Archive. World Wide Web: http://www.ciac.org/ Anonymous FTP: ftp.ciac.org PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE, ESnet, and NIH computing communities receive CIAC bulletins. If you are not part of these communities, please contact your agency's response team to report incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with CIAC. The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their constituencies can be obtained via WWW at http://www.first.org/. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. 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