CVE-2019-1064 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC), where improper handling of hard links allows a local attacker to manipulate file permissions on SYSTEM-owned files. The vulnerability is a bypass of the original CVE-2019-0841 patch, discovered by SandBoxEscaper, and leverages the handling of Microsoft Edge's settings.dat file. By creating hard links, a low-privileged user can overwrite discretionary access control lists (DACLs) on protected files, potentially leading to SYSTEM-level code execution when combined with other privilege escalation techniques such as DLL hijacking or abuse of the DiagHub Collector service. The issue affected Windows 10 versions prior to 1903 and was patched in KB4503327.
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This repository is a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for CVE-2019-1064, a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Windows AppXSVC. The main exploit logic is implemented in 'AppXSVC_poc/Exploit.cs', a C# program that leverages NTFS hardlinks and directory manipulation to exploit a race condition in the AppXSVC service. The exploit requires a target file as an argument and checks that the SYSTEM account has full control over it, but the current user does not. It also checks that Cortana is enabled via a registry key. The exploit deletes the Cortana LocalState directory, creates a hardlink from a file in that directory to the target file, and relies on the service to rewrite DACLs, potentially granting the current user full control over the target file. The repository is structured as a Visual Studio C# project, with supporting configuration and dependency files. No network or remote attack vectors are present; this is a purely local privilege escalation exploit. The endpoints of interest are the Cortana LocalState directory and the relevant Windows registry key.
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