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After Stuxnet: Printing Still the Stairway to Heaven

Peleg HadarTomer Bar

Peleg Hadar and Tomer Bar audit the Windows Print Spooler service a decade after Stuxnet, uncovering multiple zero-day SYSTEM privilege escalation bugs.

Summary

The Persistent Legacy of Stuxnet's Print Spooler Exploit

In 2010, the Stuxnet worm weaponized a zero-day vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler service to achieve SYSTEM-level code execution across industrial networks.

Revisiting the Print Spooler Attack Surface in 2020

SafeBreach researchers Peleg Hadar and Tomer Bar conduct a comprehensive audit of the modern Windows Print Spooler, expecting decades of hardening.

Discovering Multiple SYSTEM Privilege Escalation Zero-Days

Uncovering logic flaws in printer driver installation routines, directory junctions, and spool file handling enabled unprivileged local users to execute arbitrary code as SYSTEM.

Windows Architecture Hardening and Defensive Rules

The researchers discuss coordinated disclosure with Microsoft and provide endpoint detection telemetry to identify malicious spooler process injection.

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