4th Mar 2003 [SBWID-6038]
COMMAND
Pastel accounting potential user compromise
SYSTEMS AFFECTED
PASTEL ACCOUNTING v6.0-6.12 (confirmed), earlier versions (suspected)
PROBLEM
In -ph33r-blaqhatz, advisory :
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http://www.only4jewz.net/efil4zaggin/blaqhatz.advisory.20030303
1. BACKGROUND
Pastel Accounting is an accounting package widely used by small
business entities in countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle and Far
East and Australasia. The Pastel product includes a facility for secure
access to specific modules within the product.
Further information is available @ http://www.pastel.com
2. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
The security system and application controls used by the Pastel product
are broken.
All user and security information is stored with the file "ACCUSER.DAT"
within the chosen client folder. No data is encrypted with any
information within this file, nor is any version/validity checking done
against this file.
As such, it is possible to replace the ACCUSER.DAT file with one from a
different set of accounts, with known usernames and passwords, access
and modify the data stored within a specific set of accounts and then
restore the original file, thus providing no concrete on by whom the
files were modified.
In some contexts, it would even be possible to falsify records in an
attempt to 'frame' a particular user with changes.
Additionally, some preliminary testing on the accuser.dat file
displayed an alarming correlation between certain sections of the file
and the passwords chosen. For example, given a group of users with
chosen passwords "AAAAAAAA", "BBBBBBBB", "CCCCCCCC", "DDDDDDDD", and
"ABCDEFGH", the following strings were found in the file: "ssssssss",
"tttttttt", "uuuuuuuu", "vvvvvvvv", and "stuvwxyz".
SOLUTION
None yet