Re: Adding XP in another partition users into Vi$ta

The statement about there being no API to do it is just plain wrong. I guess sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing :).

If Windows didn't support some mechanism for allowing a group of users to set the owner on a file, the Windows backup program could not correctly restore backups.

One can always remove this capability by not granting Administrators the restore privilege.

- JB


"FromTheRafters" <erratic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:e2cOBjXMJHA.3744@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was this bit that got me thinking that...

"The Owner tab shown in Figure 12.19 has no option for giving ownership to another individual. If that were possible, an unscrupulous user could take ownership, do something wrong, and then cover his tracks by giving ownership to someone else. To prevent that from happening, the operating system does not support a give ownership operation at any levelnot in the user interface, not in application programming interfaces. It is true that a program can write new information in the Owner field of an objects security descriptor if the process has WRITE_OWNER access to the object, but WRITE_OWNER access permits the caller to change ownership only to the user SID in the callers access token or, if the user is a member of the Administrators group, to the Administrators SID. Thus it is never possible to give ownership of an object to another user. If you want to transfer ownership of an object, you must give another user permission to take ownership and then wait until the other user takes it."

"Jimmy Brush" <jb@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%237ugJRKMJHA.4772@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yup :). You have to hold the restore privilege (admins have it by default).

This isn't new functionality to Vista, it was just never exposed in the UI before.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245153/EN-US/

I am not aware of any auditing enhancements.

- JB

"FromTheRafters" <erratic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23RqSSMJMJHA.3744@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Can you confirm this? It was my understanding that you can
only grant the permission for another to take ownership and
not simply assign ownership to another (for auditing purposes
to avoid someone taking ownership, making nefarious changes
and then assigning ownership to a scapegoat).

...again, this was from the W2K link - but I don't see why
that would change in Vista (unless they've improved on the
audit trail).

"Jimmy Brush" <jb@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Os9bZ1%23LJHA.3080@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Also, you can assign ownership to an arbitrary user or group in Vista through the ACL editor UI, with the appropriate rights of course.

- JB


"FromTheRafters" <erratic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:exUKQk%23LJHA.4772@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for your answer Jimmy.

Having read this:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/distrib/dsce_ctl_gstb.mspx?mfr=true

...it had me wondering how things may have changed re Vista.

"Jimmy Brush" <jb@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:eSHYjY%23LJHA.4772@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello,

That's an excellent question.

The scenarios are different depending on whether you are logged in as a standard user or an administrator.

When logged in as a standard user, when you elevate you are logging in with the credentials you supply to the elevation prompt and the elevated program is running under those credentials. So, there are actually 2 SIDs involved and things work as you described.

Things get tricky when you are logged in as an administrator. In this case, you only have one SID, but you get 2 tokens with different privileges when you log in. The tricky part is that in the restricted token, your group membership in the administrators group is set to only be considered for deny permissions.

So, the following scenario could happen:

- You are logged in as an admin
- You are running a program that is not elevated that wants to change the permissions on a file
- You are not granted access to the file in any permission
- The administrators group owns the file

You would not be able to use the non-elevated program to change the permissions on the file, becase your membership in the administrators group is being ignored when the system is deciding if you should be able to have read/change acl access to the file by virtue of being the owner.

Of course, this scenario probably wouldn't happen in real life... the program should know to throw a UAC prompt to get elevated.

In addition, there is also the concept of integrity levels. Most non-elevated processes are assigned medium integrity, while an elevated process is assigned high integrity. Every file is assigned an integrity level.

A process can only write to a file that has an equal or lower integity level than the process, regardless of what permissions are set or who the owner is.

So, an un-elevated process (medium integrity) could not write to or change the permissions on a file that has high integrity, even if your SID had full control of the file and was the owner.

(There are no files by default that have high integrity).

- JB



"FromTheRafters" <erratic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:u3YSsJ9LJHA.276@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Man-wai Chang ToDie (33.6k)" <toylet.toylet@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%235UxUA0LJHA.5660@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Under Vi$ta:
First, I removed all accounts that could access folder X. Then I let user Y to take control of the folder, including subfolders. I only want Vi$ta's user Y to access that folder.

Was user Y elevated when you took ownership?

I've been wanting to ask the experts in this group about this
for awhile anyway, so here it goes.

When an SID is created by a limited user with an admin token
(elevated standard account) is the "owner" field different than
it would be without the admin token? In other words, is it only
possible to be accepted as the "owner" if you are attempting
access as that same user again also elevated?

Then I boot back into XP:
XP's Administrator as well as user could no longer access folder X, unless I let XP's Admin to take control of folder X. But if I did that, when I booted back into Vi$ta, Vi$ta's user Y could no longer access folder X.

Have you tried elevating Vista's Y user when attempting access of
folder X? Not because it needs elevated privileges, but because it
needs "owner" to match the SID - just in case the split token is what
is causing this confusion. Thereafter you should be able to allow any
standard user account you want to assume ownership.

Sorry if this isn't helpful, but maybe you would have better luck
in the micro$oft.pubic.windoze.vi$ta.insecurity newsgroup.











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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Adding XP in another partition users into Vi$ta
    ... If the program is not elevated, the owner on a new file it creates will be the admin user SID ... the owner will be the administrators group ... When logged in as a standard user, when you elevate you are logging in with the credentials you supply to the elevation prompt and the elevated program is running under those credentials. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.security)
  • Re: Adding XP in another partition users into Vi$ta
    ... "The Owner tab shown in Figure 12.19 has no option for giving ownership ... Administrators group, to the Administrators SID. ... When logged in as a standard user, when you elevate you are logging ...
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  • Re: Adding XP in another partition users into Vi$ta
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  • Re: Home Folder Owner
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  • Re: Administrators do not have Owner Permissions
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