CVE-2020-1387 in Windows
Summary
by MITRE
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way the Windows Push Notification Service handles objects in memory, aka 'Windows Push Notification Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/30/2020
The Windows Push Notification Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability represents a critical security flaw in Microsoft's operating system infrastructure that allows attackers to escalate their privileges from standard user level to system level execution. This vulnerability specifically affects the Windows Push Notification Service component which is responsible for managing and delivering push notifications to applications and users across Windows environments. The flaw exists within the memory handling mechanisms of this service, creating an exploitable condition that can be leveraged by malicious actors to gain unauthorized administrative access to affected systems.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper memory management within the Windows Push Notification Service implementation. When the service processes notification objects in memory, it fails to properly validate or sanitize input data structures, leading to potential memory corruption scenarios. This memory handling flaw allows an attacker to manipulate the service's execution flow by injecting malicious payloads into the notification processing pipeline. The vulnerability manifests when the service attempts to handle specially crafted notification objects that trigger buffer overflows or other memory corruption conditions, which can then be exploited to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which covers heap-based buffer overflow scenarios that are commonly exploited for privilege escalation attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends across multiple Windows operating system versions including Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019, making it particularly dangerous given the widespread deployment of these platforms. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability through various attack vectors, including malicious applications that send crafted push notifications, or by leveraging other initial access points to deploy payloads that target the vulnerable service. The privilege escalation occurs because the Windows Push Notification Service runs with elevated privileges to properly deliver notifications to applications, but the memory handling flaw allows attackers to leverage this elevated context for malicious purposes. This vulnerability is particularly concerning as it requires no user interaction to exploit and can be triggered through legitimate notification delivery mechanisms, making it difficult to detect and prevent through traditional security measures.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patch management and deployment of Microsoft security updates to remediate the memory handling issues within the Windows Push Notification Service. The recommended mitigation strategy includes implementing the security patches released by Microsoft as part of their regular security update cycle, while also monitoring for anomalous notification delivery patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and privilege minimization should be enforced to limit the potential impact if exploitation occurs, and security monitoring solutions should be configured to detect unusual privilege escalation activities. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation through service manipulation and memory corruption exploitation, specifically aligning with T1068 for local privilege escalation and T1059 for command and script execution. System administrators should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies to restrict the execution of potentially malicious notification handlers and monitor for unusual service behavior patterns that could indicate exploitation of this memory corruption vulnerability.