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When you plug in one of these Razer peripherals, Windows will automatically download Razer Synapse, the software that controls certain settings for your mouse or keyboard. Said Razer software has SYSTEM privileges, since it launches from a Windows process with SYSTEM privileges.
But that’s not where the vulnerability comes into play. Once you install the software, Windows’ setup wizard asks which folder you’d like to save it to. When you choose a new location for the folder, you’ll see a “Choose a Folder” prompt. Press Shift and right-click on that, and you can choose “Open PowerShell window here,” which will open a new PowerShell window.
Because this PowerShell window was launched from a process with SYSTEM privileges, the PowerShell window itself now has SYSTEM privileges. In effect, you’ve turned yourself into an admin on the machine, able to perform any command you can think of in the PowerShell window.
This vulnerability was first brought to light on Twitter by user jonhat, who tried contacting Razer about it first, to no avail. Razer did eventually follow up, confirming a patch is in the works. Until that patch is available, however, the company is inadvertently selling tools that make it easy to hack millions of computers.
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Source: You Can Gain Admin Privileges to Any Windows Machine by Plugging in a Razer Mouse
Robin Edgar
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