Thanks xStainDx and everyone who sent us an email about the heads up on this.
Date: 22 May 2002
Impact: Elevation of Privilege
Max Risk: Critical
Affected Software:
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000
There is a flaw in the authentication mechanism for the debugging facility such that an unauthorized program can gain access to the debugger. A vulnerability results because an attacker can use this to cause a running program to run a program of her choice. Because many programs run as the operating system, this means that an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to run code as the operating system itself. She could take any action on the system including deleting data, adding accounts with administrative access, or reconfiguring the system.
A successful attack requires the ability to logon interactively to the system, either at the console or through a terminal session. Also, an a successful attack requires the introduction of code to exploit this vulnerability. Because best practices recommends restricting the ability to logon interactively on servers, this issue most directly affects client systems and terminal servers.