We have observed (on Windows 7 32-bit) that for unclear reasons, the kernel-mode structure containing the default DACL of system processes' tokens (lsass.exe, services.exe, ...) has 8 uninitialized bytes at the end, as the size of the structure (ACL.AclSize) is larger than the sum of ACE lengths (ACE_HEADER.AceSize). It is possible to read the leftover pool data using a GetTokenInformation(TokenDefaultDacl) call.
When the attached proof-of-concept code is run against a SYSTEM process (pid of the process must be passed in the program argument), on a system with Special Pools enabled for ntoskrnl.exe, output similar to the following can be observed:
>NtQueryInformationToken.exe 520
00000000: 54 bf 2b 00 02 00 3c 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 14 00 T.+...<.........
00000010: 00 00 00 10 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 05 12 00 00 00 ................
00000020: 00 00 18 00 00 00 02 a0 01 02 00 00 00 00 00 05 ................
00000030: 20 00 00 00 20 02 00 00[01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01] ... ...........
The last eight 0x01 bytes are markers inserted by Special Pools, which visibly haven't been overwritten by any actual data prior to being returned to user-mode.
While reading DACLs of system processes may require special privileges (such as the ability to acquire SeDebugPrivilege), the root cause of the behavior could potentially make it possible to also create uninitialized DACLs that are easily accessible by regular users. This could in turn lead to a typical kernel memory disclosure condition, which would allow local authenticated attackers to defeat certain exploit mitigations (kernel ASLR) or read other secrets stored in the kernel address space. Since it's not clear to us what causes the abberant behavior, we're reporting it for further analysis to be on the safe side.
The proof-of-concept code is mostly based on the example at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/131065/how-to-obtain-a-handle-to-any-process-with-sedebugprivilege.
This bug is subject to a 90 day disclosure deadline. After 90 days elapse or a patch has been made broadly available, the bug report will become visible to the public.
