IT Security Stack Exchange
IT Security Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [uac]

User Account Control, or UAC, is a security feature first introduced in Microsoft Windows Vista. It aims to improve security by limiting application software to user level privileges unless the process is authorized to run with elevated privileges.

User Account Control, or UAC, is a security feature first introduced in Microsoft Windows Vista. It aims to improve security by limiting application software to user level privileges unless the process is authorized to run with elevated privileges.

Related reading

40 questions
63
votes
3 answers

How does the Windows "Secure Desktop" mode work?

Can anyone explain (or provide a link to a simple explanation) of what the Windows "Secure Desktop" mode is and how it works? I just heard about it in the KeePass documentation (KeePass - Enter Master Key on a Secure Desktop) and would like to…
snth
  • 965
  • 1
  • 9
  • 10
13
votes
2 answers

Custom Metasploit payload with UAC bypass

The machine I am attacking has anti-virus installed. I have managed to use Veil Framework in order to create an initial reverse shell payload that is undetected by the AV. However, UAC is enabled on the Windows 7 target. I am trying to use…
SilverlightFox
  • 33,408
  • 6
  • 67
  • 178
13
votes
2 answers

How does consent.exe know what to display?

consent.exe is responsible for showning the UAC dialog. Looking at the command line parameters with Process Explorer, I see the following: consent.exe 1316 748 000000004385BD60 I have read How does the Windows “Secure Desktop” mode work? here on…
Thomas Weller
  • 3,246
  • 3
  • 21
  • 39
12
votes
2 answers

How is UAC a security improvement?

What does User Account Control on Windows offer in terms of security? It's just an extra click to potentially run a virus.
Moshe
  • 1,721
  • 3
  • 16
  • 22
11
votes
5 answers

UAC and Windows Services

A user has a PowerShell script that does some things that require administrative access on Windows Server 2012 with UAC enabled. When they run the script as a Local Administrator, it fails with access denied. But if they elevate their permissions…
Paul Stovell
  • 303
  • 1
  • 2
  • 8
11
votes
1 answer

What are the differences between "simple" UAC and two user accounts on Windows?

I'm currently thinking about increasing security on my Windows machine. As part of this harderning I considered the least-privilege principle and want to apply this on Windows using two different user accounts: An administrator account and a normal…
SEJPM
  • 9,500
  • 5
  • 35
  • 66
9
votes
1 answer

Do applications installing into AppData folder make UAC useless?

When UAC was first introduced, most well-behaving applications were installed into Program Files folder, so any tampering with executable files without explicit user consent became impossible. So when a user executes a malware application, only this…
Athari
  • 191
  • 1
  • 6
8
votes
4 answers

Should I worry about this UAC bypass exploit for Windows 7?

It appears that there is an exploit out there that allegedly allows you to bypass the UAC on Windows 7 computers and gain administrator access. I was wondering if this exploit is still a dangerous vulnerability on the average Windows 7 box or if it…
Gastrocnemius
  • 105
  • 1
  • 6
8
votes
4 answers

Microsoft said UAC is not a security barrier. But in what cases?

After Vista came out, security professionals argued that UAC wasn't actually a security barrier, and Microsoft eventually admitted it isn't. But the case they were talking about was a local administrator, who just has to click ALLOW on UAC…
Sad IT admin
  • 127
  • 1
  • 8
7
votes
1 answer

Windows mandatory access control: How to remove “mandatory level” label from the file?

How to remove "mandatory level" label from the file? I have two files, for the first one icacls returns Mandatory Label\Medium Mandatory Level:(NW) for the second icacls doesn't return anything (that means use "default") My problem is that icacls…
Roman Pokrovskij
  • 273
  • 2
  • 9
7
votes
4 answers

Preferred UAC configuration in Enterprises that use Login scripts to map drives?

In Windows 7, Vista and newer OS's, UAC will prevent logon scripts from mapping hard drives so that the following logon script code won't work: Dim WshNetwork Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network") WshNetwork.MapNetworkDrive "g:",…
makerofthings7
  • 50,090
  • 54
  • 250
  • 536
6
votes
1 answer

Why is it a security issue to load Notepad++ plugins from %APPDATA% folder?

I have used the Notepad++ installer several times. However, it caught my eye that in one of the installer windows there is an option of: Allow plugins to be loaded from %APPDATA%." Below it there is a warning that says "It could cause a security…
Amadeus Sánchez
  • 163
  • 1
  • 5
5
votes
2 answers

Is UAC actually worth it?

Windows UAC: It's annoying. It seems pointless. Should I just disable it? Or in other words - is there actually a real risk of something malicious happening if I do? Is there malware out there that works only if it's disabled? I appreciate it gives…
xorsyst
  • 153
  • 1
  • 5
5
votes
6 answers

Is UAC enabled and set to Elevate without prompt actually a security protection?

Does enabling UAC and setting the Admin approval behavior to Elevate without prompting provide any form of extra security to Administrator account. Note that my use case is for a Kiosk application where user interaction in Admin mode is very less.
johndoe
  • 51
  • 2
5
votes
2 answers

Isn't separating privileges less useful on a PC, as all my critical data is in my normal user account?

Separating privileges, i.e using a non-admin account and escalating only when needed, seems to be something everyone agrees on. I can roughly understand why it's important on every system : prevent an attacker from modifying the system and taking…
Hey
  • 1,905
  • 1
  • 16
  • 23
1
2 3