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[Full-Disclosure] Microsoft Outlook PST Exposure



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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Secure Target Network (Security Advisory August 31, 
2003) <BR>Topic: Microsoft Outlook PST Exposure<BR>Discovery Date: August 28, 
2003<BR>Link to Original Advisory: <A 
href="http://securetarget.net/advisory.htm";>http://securetarget.net/advisory.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Affected applications and platforms: <BR>All 
versions of Outlook on any Windows platform</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Introduction: <BR>everyone work with .pst files, 
storing and managing his/her Outlook<BR>Data transparently under Microsoft 
Outlook. A default folder takes<BR>care of these data files at: 
<BR>%windrive%\Documents and Settings\User Profile\Local<BR>Settings\Application 
Data\Microsoft\outlook<BR>And all of your data may encrypt and maintain as 
outlook.pst (or<BR>archive.pst when you just archive your old data).<BR>When you 
add something to your outlook items (appointments &amp;<BR>meetings, tasks, 
notes, …), your data file probably increases in size<BR>but when you delete some 
items (any size, large or small piece of<BR>data), the data do lost from your 
eyes but usually, does not erase<BR>from .pst files.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Exploit: <BR>As you can probably see, this may 
effect in a wide range of exposure<BR>attacks; no escalation of privileges or 
any other system compromise<BR>directly happen. So, anybody with physical access 
to your computer<BR>would be the reader of your Outlook Items (any task, 
appointment and<BR>…) and any private information there.<BR>By the way, this may 
lead to a worth situation, when you just restore<BR>a backed up copy of these 
.pst files and try to recover your lost<BR>data, but there is something 
different in backups, because you didn’t<BR>copy a refreshed one.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Workaround: <BR>the easiest way to work around this 
vulnerability is physical<BR>security countermeasures but for your backups, try 
to “compact” items<BR>before backing up:<BR>1. File?folder?properties of “your 
desired folder with data<BR>files”?General tab?Advanced?Compact Now<BR>2. 
File?Data File Management?settings?Compact Now</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tested on: <BR>Outlook 2000 SP3 (9.0.0.6627) on 
Windows 2000 SP4<BR>Outlook 2002 (10.2627.2625) on Windows XP Professional 
SP1</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Feedback: <BR>Kaveh Mofidi (<A 
href="mailto:Admin@SecureTarget.Net";>Admin@SecureTarget.Net</A>) <BR>Secure 
Target Network (Security Consulting Group) <BR><A 
href="http://SECURETARGET.NET";>HTTP://SECURETARGET.NET</A></FONT></DIV>
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