Microsoft Windows NT 4.0/2000 Debugging Subsystem smss.exe privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
7.6$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Microsoft Windows NT 4.0/2000. This issue affects some unknown processing of the file smss.exe of the component Debugging Subsystem. The manipulation leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2002-0367. The attack needs to be performed locally. Additionally, an exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Windows NT 4.0/2000 (Operating System). It has been rated as critical. This issue affects an unknown functionality of the file smss.exe of the component Debugging Subsystem. 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:

smss.exe debugging subsystem in Windows NT and Windows 2000 does not properly authenticate programs that connect to other programs, which allows local users to gain administrator or SYSTEM privileges by duplicating a handle to a privileged process, as demonstrated by DebPloit.

The weakness was released 06/25/2002 as not defined posting (Bugtraq). The advisory is shared at securityfocus.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2002-0367. The exploitation is known to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. The successful exploitation needs a simple authentication. Technical details as well as a public exploit are known. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

The exploit is available at exploit-db.com. It is declared as attacked. We expect the 0-day to have been worth approximately $25k-$100k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 10964 (MS02-024: Windows Debugger flaw can Lead to Elevated Privileges (320206)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Windows : Microsoft Bulletins. The CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog lists this issue since 03/03/2022 with a due date of 03/24/2022:

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (8462), Exploit-DB (21344), Tenable (10964), EUVD (EUVD-2002-0364) and SecurityFocus (BID 4287†). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.6

VulDB Base Score: 7.8
VulDB Temp Score: 7.5
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 7.8
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Attacked
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

KEV Added: 🔍
KEV Due: 🔍
KEV Remediation: 🔍
KEV Ransomware: 🔍
KEV Notice: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Nessus ID: 10964
Nessus Name: MS02-024: Windows Debugger flaw can Lead to Elevated Privileges (320206)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 10964
OpenVAS Name: Windows Debugger flaw can Lead to Elevated Privileges (Q320206)
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Timelineinfo

03/13/2002 🔍
05/23/2002 +71 days 🔍
06/25/2002 +33 days 🔍
06/25/2002 +0 days 🔍
06/25/2002 +0 days 🔍
04/28/2003 +307 days 🔍
07/11/2014 +4092 days 🔍
07/30/2025 +4037 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: microsoft.com
Product: microsoft.com

Advisory: securityfocus.com⛔
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2002-0367 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2002-0367
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-18341
EUVD: 🔍

OVAL: 🔍

X-Force: 8462
SecurityFocus: 4287 - Microsoft Windows 2000 / NT 4.0 Process Handle Local Privilege Elevation Vulnerability
Vulnerability Center: 1125 - [MS02-024] Microsoft Windows 2000 / NT 4.0 Debugging Subsystem Allows Duplicate Handles Creation, Medium

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013

Entryinfo

Created: 07/11/2014 14:17
Updated: 07/30/2025 06:10
Changes: 07/11/2014 14:17 (68), 04/07/2017 16:03 (4), 06/27/2021 12:03 (2), 04/23/2024 06:28 (28), 07/16/2024 22:38 (10), 09/09/2024 22:29 (1), 05/24/2025 10:05 (4), 07/30/2025 06:10 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Want to stay up to date on a daily basis?

Enable the mail alert feature now!