Vulnerability Note VU#305294

Shortcuts may insecurely store SMB authentication information

Overview

SMB authentication information may be stored as plain text within URI shortcuts. As a result, a local attacker may be able read the authentication information and gain access to the share.

I. Description

SMB is a protocol for sharing data and resources between computers. Many operating systems support accessing SMB shares via URIs of the form:

smb://domain\username:password@server\sharename

If a shortcut to a protected SMB share is created, the URI (including the password section) will be stored as plain text within the shortcut. If an attacker can access the properties of the shortcut, they will be able to read the password and may be able to gain access to the protected share.

According to reports, this vulnerability affects the KDE Desktop Environment. However, other applications or operating systems may be affected as well.

II. Impact

If a local attacker can create (or persuade a user to create) a shortcut to a protected SMB share and then gain access to that shortcut's properties, they will be able to read the SMB share's authentication information and consequently, gain access to the protected SMB share.

III. Solution

We are currently unaware of a solution to this problem.

Lock Computer

Users are encouraged to lock their computers when they step away from them.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified
Conectiva	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Debian	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Engarde	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Hewlett-Packard Company	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
IBM-zSeries	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
IBM eServer	Unknown	17-Dec-2004
Immunix	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Ingrian Networks	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
KDE Desktop Environment Project	Vulnerable	13-Dec-2004
MandrakeSoft	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
MontaVista Software	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
NEC Corporation	Not Vulnerable	17-Mar-2005
Novell	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Openwall GNU/*/Linux	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Red Hat Inc.	Unknown	15-Dec-2004
SCO	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Sequent	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
Sun Microsystems Inc.	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
SuSE Inc.	Unknown	10-Dec-2004
TurboLinux	Unknown	10-Dec-2004

References

http://www.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/securityfocus/bugtraq/2004-11/0394.html

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by Daniel Fabian.

This document was written by Jeff Gennari.

Other Information

Date Public:	2004-11-29
Date First Published:	2004-12-13
Date Last Updated:	2005-03-17
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):
NVD-ID(s):
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	1.39
Document Revision:	116

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