An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows Error Reporting (WER) when WER handles and executes files. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker can successfully exploit it. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain greater access to sensitive information and system functionality. To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker could run a specially crafted application. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way that WER handles and executes files.
Weakness
The product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently.
Affected Software
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows_10 | Microsoft | - (including) | - (including) |
| Windows_10 | Microsoft | 1607 (including) | 1607 (including) |
| Windows_10 | Microsoft | 1709 (including) | 1709 (including) |
| Windows_10 | Microsoft | 1803 (including) | 1803 (including) |
| Windows_10 | Microsoft | 1809 (including) | 1809 (including) |
| Windows_10 | Microsoft | 1903 (including) | 1903 (including) |
| Windows_10 | Microsoft | 1909 (including) | 1909 (including) |
| Windows_server_2016 | Microsoft | - (including) | - (including) |
| Windows_server_2016 | Microsoft | 1903 (including) | 1903 (including) |
| Windows_server_2016 | Microsoft | 1909 (including) | 1909 (including) |
| Windows_server_2019 | Microsoft | - (including) | - (including) |
Extended Description
A race condition occurs within concurrent environments, and it is effectively a property of a code sequence. Depending on the context, a code sequence may be in the form of a function call, a small number of instructions, a series of program invocations, etc. A race condition violates these properties, which are closely related:
A race condition exists when an “interfering code sequence” can still access the shared resource, violating exclusivity. The interfering code sequence could be “trusted” or “untrusted.” A trusted interfering code sequence occurs within the product; it cannot be modified by the attacker, and it can only be invoked indirectly. An untrusted interfering code sequence can be authored directly by the attacker, and typically it is external to the vulnerable product.
Potential Mitigations
- Minimize the usage of shared resources in order to remove as much complexity as possible from the control flow and to reduce the likelihood of unexpected conditions occurring.
- Additionally, this will minimize the amount of synchronization necessary and may even help to reduce the likelihood of a denial of service where an attacker may be able to repeatedly trigger a critical section (CWE-400).