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KB5004442: Windows DCOM Server Security Feature Bypass Registry Check (CVE-2021-26414)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 170626

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Synopsis

The remote Windows host DCOM hardening measure is disabled.

Description

The remote Windows DCOM Server may be in a vulnerable state to exploitation by having the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Ole\AppCompat\RequireIntegrityActivationAuthenticationLevel registry value set to 0. Hardening changes in DCOM were required for CVE-2021-26414 and were implemented in 2 phases on June 8, 2021 and June 14, 2022 as described in KB5004442. Without the March 2023 Microsoft upgrade (phase 3), DCOM hardening can be manually disabled by setting this registry value to 0 on the server side to help mitigate compatibility issues. This presents a vulnerability risk and should be avoided. With the March 2023 update, DCOM hardening is enabled by default, and is no longer affected by the registry setting.

Solution

Update the DWORD registry value RequireIntegrityActivationAuthenticationLevel under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole\AppCompat to 1 to enable DCOM hardening

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?ffd83ea3

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 170626

File Name: windows_DCOM_hardening_reg_check.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: local

Agent: windows

Family: Windows

Published: 1/25/2023

Updated: 3/22/2024

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.1

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.3

Temporal Score: 3.6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-26414

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.8

Temporal Score: 4.5

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows

Required KB Items: SMB/Registry/Enumerated

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 6/8/2021

Vulnerability Publication Date: 6/8/2021

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2021-26414