Zero-Day Advisory
Fortinet Discovers Microsoft Windows Kernel Privilege Elevation Vulnerability
Summary
Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs has discovered an elevation of privilege vulnerability in Microsoft Kernel.
Microsoft Kernel is the central module of the operating system (OS). It is the part of the operating system that loads first, and it remains in main memory. Typically, the kernel is responsible for memory management, process and task management, and disk management. The kernel connects the system hardware to the application software.
An elevation of privilege vulnerability has been discovered in Microsoft Windows Kernel. The vulnerability exists in the way that the Windows Kernel handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could execute code with elevated permissions.
Solutions
FortiGuard Labs released the following FortiGate IPS signature which covers this specific vulnerability:MS.Windows.Kernel.Privilege.Elevation
Released Feb 23, 2018
Users should apply the solution provided by Microsoft.
Timeline
Fortinet reported the vulnerability to Microsoft on December 1, 2017.
Microsoft confirmed the vulnerability on January 12, 2018.
Microsoft patched the vulnerability on April 10, 2018.