(PT-2008-09) Positive Technologies Security Advisory
Microsoft Windows MSMQ Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Affected Software

Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2
Windows Vista

Vendor Link:
http://www.microsoft.com

Severity Rating

Severity: High
Impact: Privilege Escalation
Attack Vector: Local

CVSS v2:
Base Score: 7.2
Vector: (AV:L/AC:M/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C)

CVE: CVE-2009-1922

Vulnerability Description

Positive Technologies Research Team has discovered a privilege escalation vulnerability in Windows Message Queuing service (MSMQ).

The IOCTL handler in mqac.sys does not properly validate buffer data associated with the Irp object, which allows local users to crash the system or execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges.

Solution

Vendor has issued patches and advisory:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-040.mspx

Disclosure Timeline

11/19/2008 - Vendor notified
11/21/2008 - Vendor response
08/11/2009 - Vendor released patches
08/12/2009 - Public disclosure

Credits

This vulnerability was discovered by Nikita Tarakanov, Positive Technologies Research Team.

References

http://en.securitylab.ru/lab/PT-2008-09
http://www.ptsecurity.ru/advisory.asp

Complete list of vulnerability reports published by Positive Technologies Research Team:

http://en.securitylab.ru/lab/
http://www.ptsecurity.ru/advisory.asp

About Positive Technologies

Positive Technologies www.ptsecurity.com is among the key players in the IT security market in Russia.

The principal activities of the company include the development of integrated tools for information security monitoring (MaxPatrol); providing IT security consulting services and technical support; the development of the Securitylab en.securitylab.ru leading Russian information security portal.

Among the clients of Positive Technologies there are more than 40 state enterprises, more than 50 banks and financial organizations, 20 telecommunication companies, more than 40 plant facilities, as well as IT, service and retail companies from Russia, CIS countries, Baltic States, China, Ecuador, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Iran, Israel, Japan, Mexico, South African Republic, Thailand, Turkey and USA.
Positive Technologies is a team of highly skilled developers, advisers and experts with years of vast hands-on experience. The company specialists possess professional titles and certificates; they are the members of various international societies and are actively involved in the IT security field development.