Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows a local attacker to escalate their privileges to LocalSystem level by placing a malicious executable in an unquoted service path directory.

With elevated privileges, the attacker can execute code with high-level system permissions, potentially leading to full system compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive data, or disruption of system operations.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is an unquoted service path issue in Windows Firewall Control version 4.8.6.0. Because the service's executable path is not enclosed in quotation marks, a local attacker can place a malicious executable file in a directory along the service path that contains spaces in its name.

When the wfcs.exe service restarts or the system reboots, the service may execute the malicious executable with LocalSystem privileges, allowing the attacker to escalate their privileges on the affected system.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by checking the service path of the wfcs.exe service for unquoted spaces. If the service executable path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotation marks, it is vulnerable to privilege escalation.

A common method to detect unquoted service paths on Windows is to use the command line to query the service configuration and inspect the ImagePath value.

• Run the command: sc qc wfcs
• Check the output for the BINARY_PATH_NAME field and verify if the path contains spaces without surrounding quotes.
• Alternatively, use PowerShell to list all services with unquoted paths: Get-WmiObject win32_service | where {$_.pathname -like '* *' -and $_.pathname -notlike '"*"'} | select name, pathname

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, immediately ensure that the service executable path is enclosed in quotation marks to prevent execution of malicious files placed in the service path.

You can edit the service configuration to add quotes around the executable path or update the software to a version where this issue is fixed.

• Use the command: sc config wfcs binPath= """C:\Path To\wfcs.exe""" (adjusting the path as necessary) to add quotes around the service path.
• Restart the service or reboot the system after applying the fix.

Additionally, restrict local user permissions to prevent unauthorized users from placing executables in directories listed in the service path.

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Compliance Impact

The provided information does not specify how this vulnerability affects compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.

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