Sawmill Enterprise v8.7.9 Pass The Hash Authentication Bypass

[+] Credits: John Page AKA Hyp3rlinx
[+] Website: hyp3rlinx.altervista.org
[+] Source:  http://hyp3rlinx.altervista.org/advisories/SAWMILL-PASS-THE-HASH-AUTHENTICATION-BYPASS.txt
[+] ISR: ApparitionSec



Vendor:
===============
www.sawmill.net



Product:
========================
Sawmill Enterprise v8.7.9

sawmill8.7.9.4_x86_windows.exe
hash: b7ec7bc98c42c4908dfc50450b4521d0

Sawmill is a powerful heirarchical log analysis tool that runs on every major platform.


Vulnerability Type:
==============================
=====
Pass the Hash Authentication Bypass



CVE Reference:
==============
CVE-2017-5496



Security Issue:
=====================
Sawmill suffers from a classic "Pass The Hash" vulnerability whereby an attacker who gains access to the hashed user account passwords
can login to the Sawmill interface using the raw MD5 hash values, allowing attackers to bypass the work of offline cracking
account password hashes.


This issue usually is known to affect Windows systems e.g. (NT Pass the Hash/Securityfocus, 1997). However, this vulnerability can also
present itself in a vulnerable Web application.

Sawmill account password hashes are stored under LogAnalysisInfo/ directory in "users.cfg".

e.g.

users = {
  root_admin = {
    username = "admin"
    password_checksum = "e99a18c428cb38d5f260853678922e03"
    email_address = ""


This config file is stored local to the Sawmill application. However, if an attacker gains access to a backup of the config that is
stored in some other location that is then compromised, it can lead to subversion of Sawmills authenticaton process.

Moreover, since 'users.cfg' file is world readble a regular non Admin Windows user who logs into the system running sawmill can now grab
a password hash and easily login to the vulnerable application without the needing the password itself.


How to test?


Sawmill running (default port 8988), log off Windows and switch to a "Standard" Windows non Administrator user.

1) Open "users.cfg" under Sawmills directory "C:\Program Files\Sawmill 8\LogAnalysisInfo" and copy the root_admin Admin password hash.

2) Go to the Sawmill login page in web browser http://VICTIM-IP:8988/ enter username 'admin' and the hash, Tada! your Admin.


Finally, Sawmill passwords are hashed using vulnerable MD5 algorithm and no salt.


e.g.

password: abc123
MD5 hash:
e99a18c428cb38d5f260853678922e03



Disclosure Timeline:
=====================================
Vendor Notification: January 7, 2017
CVE-2017-5496 assigned : January 20
Request status : January 26
Vendor: Fix avail later in year still no ETA
Inform vendor public disclose date
February 18, 2017 : Public Disclosure



Network Access:
===============
Remote



Impact:
======================
Information Disclosure
Privilege Escalation



Severity Level:
================
High



[+] Disclaimer
The information contained within this advisory is supplied "as-is" with no warranties or guarantees of fitness of use or otherwise.
Permission is hereby granted for the redistribution of this advisory, provided that it is not altered except by reformatting it, and
that due credit is given. Permission is explicitly given for insertion in vulnerability databases and similar, provided that due credit
is given to the author. The author is not responsible for any misuse of the information contained herein and accepts no responsibility
for any damage caused by the use or misuse of this information. The author prohibits any malicious use of security related information
or exploits by the author or elsewhere.