Microsoft Windows NT 3.51/NT 4.0 Screensaver privileges management

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Windows NT 3.51/NT 4.0. It has been rated as problematic. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the component Screensaver. The manipulation leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-1999-0382. Local access is required to approach this attack. Moreover, an exploit is present. Due to its background and reception, this vulnerability has an historic impact. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Windows NT 3.51/NT 4.0 (Operating System) and classified as critical. This issue affects an unknown function of the component Screensaver. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

The screen saver in Windows NT does not verify that its security context has been changed properly, allowing attackers to run programs with elevated privileges.

The weakness was disclosed 03/12/1999 as MS99-008 as confirmed bulletin (Technet). It is possible to read the advisory at microsoft.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-1999-0382. The exploitation is known to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. The successful exploitation requires a simple authentication. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/31/2025). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK. Due to its background and reception, this vulnerability has a historic impact.

The exploit is available at exploit-db.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept. We expect the 0-day to have been worth approximately $25k-$100k.

Applying the patch MS99-008 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at microsoft.com.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (1946), Exploit-DB (19359), SecurityFocus (BID 474†) and Vulnerability Center (SBV-712†). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Microsoft

Name

• Windows

Version

• NT 3.51
• NT 4.0

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.microsoft.com/
• Product: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion