Hi,
i found some interesting news about the WSC of the SP2 here :
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1639276,00.asp
Summary:
The Windows Security Center displays informations about Firewall, Updates,
Antivirus... ans stores them in an internal database managed by the Windows
Management Instrumentation (WMI) subsystem built into Windows.
Due to the nature of WMI, the WSC could potentially allow attackers to spoof
the state of security on a user's system.
For Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft added new fields or records to keep
track of the Firewall and Antivirus information in the WMI database.
The WMI database is designed to be accessible via the WBEM API and is available
to any program that wants to access the WMI. Because the WMI database is not
set to be a read-only file, an attacking program could simply change the
disabled product's status to "up-to-date" and "enabled" to avoid suspicion.
About that Microsoft responds:
"In SP2, we added functionality to reduce the likelihood of unknown/devious
applications running on a user's system, including turning Windows Firewall on
by default, data execution prevention, attachment execution services to name a
few. To spoof the Windows Security Center WMI would require system-level access
to a PC. If the user downloads and runs an application that would allow for
spoofing of Windows Security Center, they have already opened the door for the
hacker to do what they want. In addition, if malware is already on the system,
it does not need to monitor WSC to determine a vulnerable point of attack, it
can simply shut down any firewall or AV service then attack no WSC is
necessary."
"Windows Security Center, found in the Windows XP Control panel, provides
customers the ability and makes it easier to check the status of these
essential security functionalities such as firewalls, automatic updates and
antivirus. Windows Security Center will inform users whether key security
capabilities are turned on and up to date and will notify users if it appears
that updates need to be made or if additional action steps may need to be taken
to help them get more secure."
YES it requires Administrative privileges to run a malware script...
YES it requires to access the HD of the target to run a malware script...
So if you don't want call that vulnerability, use the word flaw...
Regards.
