[NT] Servers Alive Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

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  Servers Alive Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
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SUMMARY

" <http://www.woodstone.nu/salive/index.asp> Servers Alive is an 
end-to-end network monitoring tool. It works agentless and across 
operating systems. Its checks and alerts are on the cutting edge of 
technology. It allows you to easily monitor hundreds of servers, or 
Internet services on a server, for uptime and availability. When it 
detects that a monitored service or computer has gone down it can make you 
aware through a variety of means."

A privilege escalation vulnerability has been discovered in Servers Alive, 
allowing a local non-privileged user to obtain SYSTEM privileges.

DETAILS

Vulnerable Systems:
 * Servers Alive versions 4.1 and 5.0

Servers Alive can be run in two modes: as an application or as a service. 
When run as a service, the application is permitted to interact with the 
desktop and runs under the context of SYSTEM. When clicking the 'Local 
manual' under help, the application does not drop privileges. 
Consequently, it is possible to assume SYSTEM privileges by:
1) Viewing the source of the help file, which opens in Notepad
2) In Notepad, selecting File, Open
3) Launching a system utility such as cmd.exe.

Workaround:
 * Only allow trusted users with Administrator-level privileges to logon 
interactively.
 * Physically secure the server on which the application is installed.
 * Do not run the application as a service.

Disclosure Timeline:
 * 01.24.05 - Vendor notified.
 * 01.25.05 - Vendor responded, discussion ensued.
 * 01.29.05 - CERT notified
 * 02.18.05 - CVE Candidate Number assigned from CERT
 * 03.15.05 - Advisory publicly released

CVE Information:
 <http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2005-0352> 
CAN-2005-0352


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The information has been provided by  <mailto:[email protected]> 
Michael Starks.



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