WinShock
computer security exploit, discovered 2014
WinShock is computer exploit that exploits a vulnerability in the Windows secure channel (SChannel) module and allows for remote code execution. The exploit was discovered in May 2014 by IBM, who also helped patch the exploit. The exploit was present and undetected in Windows software for 19 years, affecting every Windows version from Windows 95 to Windows 8.1.
Details
WinShock exploits a vulnerability in the Windows secure channel (SChannel) security module that allows for remote control of a PC through a vulnerability in SSL, which then allows for remote code execution. With the execution of remote code, attackers could compromise the computer completely and gain complete control over it. The vulnerability was given a CVSS 2.0 base score of 10.0, the highest score possible.
The attack exploits a vulnerable function in the SChannel module that handles SSL Certificates. A number of Windows applications such as Microsoft Internet Information Services use the SChannel Security Service Provider to manage these certificates and are vulnerable to the attack.
It was later discovered in November 2014 that the attack could be executed even if the IIS Server was set to ignore SSL Certificates, as the function was still ran regardless. Microsoft Office, and Remote Desktop software in Windows could also be exploited in the same way, even though it did not support SSL encryption at the time.
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This entry incorporates text from “WinShock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.