IBM Director Privilege Escalation

`SEC-CONSULT Security Advisory < 20090305-2 >  
=========================================================================================  
title: IBM Director CIM Server Local Privilege Escalation  
Vulnerability  
program: IBM Director for Windows  
vulnerable version: <= 5.20.3 Service Update 2  
homepage: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/management/director/  
found: Sept. 2008  
by: Bernhard Mueller / SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab  
permanent link:  
http://www.sec-consult.com/files/20090305-2_IBM_director_privilege_escalation.txt  
=========================================================================================  
  
Product description:  
---------------  
  
IBM Director is an application that can track and view system  
configurations of remote computers. It is available for Linux, AIX, and  
Windows servers.  
  
  
Vulnerability overview:  
---------------  
  
The CIM server which comes with IBM Director suite for Microsoft Windows  
contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability because the  
application fails to properly validate incoming indication requests. By  
exploiting this vulnerability an attacker can run arbitrary code with  
the privileges of the CIM server process (LOCAL SYSTEM in the Windows  
version).  
  
  
Vulnerability details:  
---------------   
  
The CIM server listens for so-called indication requests which it passes  
to local consumers. These consumers are implemented within dynamic link  
libraries or shared objects that reside on the system.   
Because the consumer named is not checked for Windows path  
metacharacters ("\"), it is possible to traverse the filesystem and  
specify any library on the system. CIM server will load the specified  
DLL and call its initialization function, PegasusCreateProvider(const  
char *).  
  
For example, the following request will load C:\mydll.dll:  
  
  
M-POST /CIMListener/\..\..\..\..\mydll HTTP/1.1  
CIMOperation: MethodCall  
CIMExport: MethodRequest  
CIMExportMethod: ExportIndication  
  
[some xml]  
  
  
The vulnerability can be exploited by a local user or an attacker who is  
able to upload a file to the target system.  
  
  
Fix:  
---------------  
  
The vendor has adressed this vulnerability in service update 2 for IBM  
Director agent 5.20.3. Download link:  
  
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/reg/download.do?source=dmp&S_PKG=director_x_520&S_TACT=sms&lang=en_US&cp=UTF-8  
  
  
vendor status:  
---------------  
vendor notified: 2008-11-03  
patch available: 2009-03-09  
  
--  
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www.sec-consult.com  
  
# EOF Bernhard Mueller, SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab / @2009  
`