0day in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 Gets a Micropatch

 

by Mitja Kolsek, the 0patch Team

 

[Update 1/22/2021: This vulnerability did not get patched by December 2020 or January 2021 Extended Security Updates, so we ported our micropatch to these updates.]

 

"Lol, who's even using Windows 7 anymore?"

"According to NetMarketShare, almost one in four Windows users."

 

On November 12, 2020, security researcher Clément Labro published a detailed analysis of a local privilege escalation vulnerability affecting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for which no official fix exists yet (at the time of this writing). Although these Windows platforms have reached end of support in January this year but Extended Security Updates (ESU) are still available for them until January 2023 - so even fully ESU-updated machines are currently affected by this issue.

As an alternative to ESU, we at 0patch have "security adopted" Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and are providing critical security patches for these platforms. Consequently, vulnerabilities like this one get our attention - and, usually, micropatches.

The Vulnerability

Clément wrote a very useful permissions-checking tool for Windows that find various misconfigurations in Windows that could allow a local attacker to elevate their privileges. On a typical Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 machine, the tool found that all local users have write permissions on two registry keys:

• HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache
• HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RpcEptMapper

These didn't immediately seem exploitable, but Clément did the legwork and found the Windows Performance Monitoring mechanism can be made to read from these keys - and eventually load the DLL provided by the local attacker. To most everyone's surprise, not as the local user, but as Local System.

In short, a local non-admin user on the computer just creates a Performance subkey in one of the above keys, populates it with some values, and triggers performance monitoring, which leads to a Local System WmiPrvSE.exe process loading attacker's DLL and executing code from it.

 

The Micropatch 

Now this is clearly a case of incorrect permissions on the above registry keys, and the solution should be obvious - correcting these permissions. However, we don't want our micropatches to make any global changes to the system, so we decided to address this in the code.

We analyzed where the Performance registry key is being read in Windows libraries and found that to be in advapi32.dll, function OpenExtensibleObjects, as a result of a call to RegKeyOpen* function with one of the performance-related predefined keys, in our case HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA.

Function OpenExtensibleObjects iterates through all services in the registry looking for Performance keys, and we decided to patch it so that it would ignore this key in both affected services - making it look as if the Performance key wasn't there even if it was.

This obviously breaks performance monitoring for the affected services but that's a trade-off we believe is beneficial to our users. In case performance monitoring is needed for these services, the micropatch can always be temporarily disabled (again, no restart of the service, much less of the computer, is needed for that).

Source code of the micropatch

The video below shows how the attack works on a Windows 7 computer exploiting bad permissions on the Dnscache registry key. An identical attack could be mounted using the RpcEptMapper key.

 

This micropatch is immediately available to all 0patch users, including those with a FREE plan. It is targeted at:

 

1. Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 computers without ESU, updated to January 2020, and 
2. Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 computers with ESU, updated to November 2020, 
3. [Updated 1/22/2021] Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 computers with ESU, updated to December 2020 or January 2021
   

 

According to our guidelines, this micropatch is free for everyone until Microsoft issues an official fix for it (presumably only as part of Extended Security Updates). By the time you're reading this the micropatch has already been distributed to all online 0patch Agents and also automatically applied except where Enterprise policies prevented that. If you're not a 0patch user and would like to use this micropatch on your computer(s), create an account in 0patch Central, install 0patch Agent and register it to your account. Note that no computer restart is needed for installing the agent or applying/un-applying any 0patch micropatch.

To learn more about 0patch, please visit our Help Center. 

 

We'd like to thank  Clément Labro for sharing their analysis and POC, which allowed us to create this micropatch for Windows users. We also encourage security researchers to privately share their analyses with us for micropatching, and further increase the positive impact of their work.

 

Most of the analysis was done by our young micropatching expert Ziga Sumenjak.

 

And finally, just one "frequently" asked question:

 

Q: "Can't I simply manually tighten permissions on affected registry keys to remove the risk instead of using 0patch?"

 

A: "Yes you can (or you can use this batch script to create Performance keys with tightened permissions). We don't know, however, if that might break some functionality under some conditions. It's quite likely that Microsoft didn't set such permissions by accident."

 

 

0patch Keeps Office 2010 Secured After End-Of-Support

by Mitja Kolsek, the 0patch Team

[Update April 2021: Microsoft issued further updates for Office 2010 in April 2021. We have updated this article accordingly.]

[Update Jan 13, 2021: Microsoft issued further updates for Office 2010 in January 2021. We have updated this article accordingly.]

[Update Dec 15, 2020: Microsoft issued further updates for Office 2010 in December. We have updated this article accordingly.]

[Update Nov 14, 2020: In contrast to announced end of updates for Office 2010 in October, Microsoft issued additional updates for Office 2010 in November. We have updated this article accordingly.]

Remember how we "security adopted" Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 when they've reached end-of-support in January 2020? Since then, we've issued micropatches for 21 high-risk vulnerabilities in these systems, the most popular undoubtedly being our micropatch for Zerologon (CVE-2020-1472), a vulnerability affecting virtually all Windows domains and being currently widely exploited by ransomware gangs.

With Office 2010 having reached end-of-support last month, and many organizations expressing interest in keeping it (secure), we've decided to "security adopt" Office 2010 as well. This service is already generally available at the time of this writing.

How does this work? Similarly to what we do for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, we collect vulnerability information for Office 2010 from a variety of sources: partners, security community, public sources, and also by testing if newly discovered vulnerabilities affecting still-supported Office versions might also affect Office 2010. When we come across a vulnerability that in our assessment presents a high risk and have sufficient data to reproduce it, we create a micropatch for it that works on fully updated Office 2010. Just as for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, Office 2010 has to be updated with latest available official updates, i.e., April 2021 updates.

Security micropatches for Office 2010 are included in 0patch PRO subscription currently priced at 22.95 EUR + tax/computer/year (volume discount available) that already provides access to all our micropatches. Enterprise features such as central management, groups, group-based patching policies, and notifications are available for organizations managing large numbers of Office 2010 installations they want to keep secured with minimal effort.

Organizations running at least 100 Office 2010 installations on supported Windows OS versions (therefore not needing all our PRO micropatches), have an option to subscribe to just Office 2010 security micropatches for a significantly discounted price.

So what do you have to do to protect your Office 2010 installations with 0patch? You need to make sure all Office 2010 updates are installed, create a 0patch account in 0patch Central, install 0patch Agent and register it to your account, then purchase a PRO subscription for a suitable number of licenses or ask sales@0patch.com for a free trial.

We will initially provide security patches for Office 2010 for 12 months, and then extend this period if faced with sufficient demand.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q: What do I have to do to receive Office 2010 micropatches?

A: To receive our post-End-of-Support Office 2010 micropatches, you have to:

1. Have your Office 2010 installation updated with all available updates up to including April 2021 (the latest official updates).
2. Install 0patch Agent on each computer running Office 2010 you want to protect with 0patch, and register these agents with your 0patch account. (Use silent installation with auto-registration for larger deployments.)
3. Have a suitable number of 0patch PRO or 0patch Enterprise licenses in your 0patch account.
4. Allow your 0patch-protected computers to connect to 0patch server (host dist.0patch.com, port 443) for periodic syncing in order for them to receive new micropatches and in order for you to remotely manage them (included in the Enterprise license)
   

Q: Do you provide patches for all known vulnerabilities affecting Office 2010?

A: We collect vulnerability information for Office 2010 from a variety of sources: partners, security community, public sources, and also by testing if newly discovered vulnerabilities affecting still-supported Office versions might also affect Office 2010. When we come across a vulnerability that in our assessment presents a high risk and have sufficient data to reproduce it, create a micropatch for it that works on fully updated Office 2010.

Consequently, an Office 2010 vulnerability may become known but it may pose too low a risk to warrant micropatching. Also, we may not have sufficient data about the vulnerability to be able to reproduce it and therefore create a micropatch. Should this happen, we will certainly utilize our connections with researchers and partners to obtain such data.

As a reference, we've been providing security micropatches for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 since January 2020 and issued micropatches for 21 high-risk vulnerabilities in the first 9 months of the service.

Q: How long do you plan to provide Office 2010 Micropatches?

A: Initially we plan to provide Office 2010 security patches for 12 months, i.e., until October 2021. Depending on the interest from our users, we may decide to extend our support term for another 12 months.

Q: Are Office 2010 security patches part of 0patch PRO and Enterprise, or a separate subscription?

A: Office 2010 security patches are part of 0patch PRO and 0patch Enterprise; there are currently no other plans available. (See also this article.)

Q: Are post-EOS Office 2010 micropatches also available to home/personal users?

A: Yes, our post-EOS (post-End-of-Support) Office 2010 patches are available to all users with 0patch PRO or 0patch Enterprise license. So whether you're a home user with just one or a couple of computers, a small business with dozens of computers, or a large organization with a Windows fleet of tens of thousands, you're getting these micropatches if you purchase a 0patch PRO license.

We may occasionally decide to provide some of these micropatches to 0patch FREE users as well, for instance to help slow down a global worm outbreak.

Q: Can I use Office 2010 micropatches on still-supported Windows versions such as Windows 10?

A: Of course. 0patch Agent works on all supported Windows versions, and if you have Office 2010 installed there (and fulfill all requirements), our micropatches will get applied to it. (See also this article.)

Q: I only need Office 2010 security patches but not all other patches included in 0patch PRO subscription. Are any discounts available?

A: We understand that some organizations may need security micropatches for Office 2010 installed on still-supported Windows versions such as Windows 10, and not need any other micropatches we're issuing. If your organization needs to protect at least 100 Office 2010 installations, we welcome you to contact sales@0patch.com for information about available discounts.

Q: Should we deploy 0patch now or wait until a serious Office 2010 vulnerability appears?

A: It is likely that sooner or later, a critical vulnerability will be found affecting Office 2010 and requiring rapid response from users and organizations in absence of an official fix from Microsoft.

If you're a home user or a small business where deploying a new product is a simple and quick process, feel free to wait and deploy 0patch when needed. (Knowing that you'd be missing out on our micropatches for other applications and 0days.)

However, for any sizeable organization we recommend doing a pilot/trial as soon as possible to make sure you've properly tested 0patch and ironed out any technical issues before the critical micropatch is needed across your network. To set up a pilot or a trial please contact sales@0patch.com.

For any additional questions regarding this service, please consult Frequently Asked Questions About Office 2010 Micropatches or, failing to find your answers there, contact sales@0patch.com.

 

Cheers!

@mkolsek
@0patch