Slashdot Mirror
Crack Windows XP With... Windows 2000
An anonymous reader writes "According to this story seen on Brian's Buzz on Windows, access to a Windows 2000 CD is all that is needed to bypass all (well, most) Windows XP security features. An attacker can boot up XP and start the Windows 2000 Recovery Console which allows them to operate as any user, even Administrator, without requiring them to enter a password. This method even allows someone to copy files to removable media, something which normally the Administrator can't even do in the Recovery Console."
So, is a windows 2000 install disk now illegal under the DMCA as a circumvention device?
Posted by timothy on Saturday February 15, @03:27PM
from the if-you're-denser-than-dark-matter dept.
An anonymous reader (really timothy) writes "According to this story seen on Slashdot this morning, any moron can get postings onto slashdot. Turns out, access to a fucking keyboard and timothy at the queue is all that is needed to bypass all (well, most) of the story submission process features in slashdot. An idiot can write up completely bland and stupid observations, and Timothy will post them. This method even allows the most moronic story to get posted on a Saturday, something which normally the staff at slashdot reserves for Tuesday."
Never has my sig been more correct:
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
An attacker with only local access to the machine and a sledgehammer is capable of launching a permanent denial of service attack on the box.
I know for a fact this works with Windows XP, but I presume this vulnerability exists in other OS's.
Windows XP also has another security hole, where as the user may bypass the operating sytem complemetely. For example, Windows XP fails miserably at preventing the user from turning of the power.
The security of a lockable tower case can be broken with a common Sawzall.
Ashcroft declares possesion is a terrorist computer crime.
KFG
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/u t that karma right here.
(o)---P
You can do the same thing to Linux with a boot floppy.
/.'s other beloved OS, OS X) is irrelevant here, as neither vulnerability outlines the crappiness of Windows.
You do realize, I hope, that the fact that Linux is, and has always been, vulnerable to a boot disk "attack" (just like
who take the fun out of everything. Now I have to wait for a new story to get snippy over something.
KFG
I do, where I work. Some days it's high heels, some days its sandals, generally the boot level gets higher at the end of the week... in fact on Friday they're often wearing those sexy "fuck me" high boots in preparation for going out later.
Silly me.
Is it fascism yet?
they wouldn't let me on the plane last year with a sawzall and a chainsaw,but they didn't find the log splitter.
Windows is no more or no less vulnerable than Linux when you have console access as has been pointed out repeatedly.
Windows is vulnerable when you have console access.
Linux is vulnerable when you have console access.
All vulnerabilities are created equal.
Windows is just as vulnerable as Linux. (or CP/M or DOS)
Actually Linux is effectively less vulnerable since people tend to question why it was rebooted. A freshly rebooted Windows system is considered "normal".