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By
Pradeep Kishnani
Why
would I want to hack windows?
Well, okay stupid question but why would you want to hack
windows when there are all those lovely ervers to take on?
The answer is so simple,what if the Admin has placed some
really horrible backdrop on our machine. How do you get
round that? Well, that's what this tutorial is all about :
Removing estrictions on the local machine so that you can
get a shot at the servers or so you can run programs that
you otherwise wouldn't be able to.
Are
there many restrictions that can be placed on me?
There are a surprising amount of things Admins can do to
your computer to make it more restricted. To ompromise of
course, there are many ways to remove these annoying
restrictions, one of which I worked out and removes all the
restrictions although it temporarily screws up Internet
Explorer's settings. Here is a small list :
Control Panel
Run command
Find command
Missing start menu programs
Fixed backdrop
No DOS access
Removed CDROM and floppy access
All of the above are a real pain in the ass. I'll go
through removing these restrictions one by one.
Where
do these restrictions come from?
Good question. There are two types of restriction, local
and remote. The local restrictions are usually stored in the
registry and are fairly easy to get round compared to the
remote restrictions. These are restrictions placed on
servers and are usually downloaded each time you login. They
are VERY hard to get around and most are beyond the scope
of this tutorial. However if I do show some of them, I'll
point out that they are remote. Sometimes, the remote
restrictions are enforced as local ones. This is handy to
say the least.
What
is the registry?
The registry is a database that Windows uses to store all
its information. You can consider it as a directory. Most
programs and files are registered here, along with user and
system settings. Driver versions and start up programs are
also found in here. Without the registry, Windows would be
in trouble.
Where
is the registry?
The registry consists of two files, user.dat and system.dat
. Both are stored in the windows directory. There are
backups of both files called user.da0 and system.da0 . If
the main two are destroyed, the system copies the new
versions over to replace them.
The user.dat file contains user settings. All the different
parts of a users settings make up a user profile. It is
these profiles that contain the information regarding what
restrictions should be enforced. Every user is stored here
along with all their access rights. I'll show you how to
fool the system into giving you full access the easy way
later.
The system.dat file strangely enough contains information
about the system. This includes settings for Internet
Explorer and other pieces of software such as DirectX, MS
Office etc etc.
Can I
edit it myself?
Yes you can, using a program called regedit. It is
automatically installed and unless your friendly Admin has
removed your ability to edit it, you can use this program to
set anything in the registry that you want.
NOTE : If you remove the system.dat file ( which you
usually have to ) some programs may have problems finding
their default settings or refuse to load.
I
can't edit the registry. How do I get around this ?
Well the easiest way is to simply remove user.dat and
system.dat . When you reset the computer and login, it will
come up and tell you that it needs to reset to repair the
registry. Ignore this message and use ctrl+alt+del to get
it to close without selecting 'ok'. You will see that all
the restrictions have been removed. Quickly go to 'Run' and
type 'command' without the quotes. This will open a DOS
window and for some reason stabilises the system. Windows
had a nasty tendency to crash if I didn't open a DOS window
for some reason. When you reset the computer, the old
registry will kick in and the restrictions will be active
again. This isn't so bad because it means you can get a
machine back to normal with the minimum of fuss.
I
can't get to the registry files to delete them! What now?
Don't panic yet! I'll show you two ways of getting to the
files. Normally if the 'Run' command is missing, you're
going to have trouble getting to the C:\windows directory
which holds those files. Second, you'll find that they are
write protected. In the next few sections I'll show you how
to get round this.
I have
the 'Run' command. What next?
Type "c:\windows\" without the quotes. This will take you
to the directory that contains the registry. You will most
likely get a message saying that altering the files could be
dangerous and could stop windows or other programs from
working. Ignore that and select continue or click the hyper
link. It will now show you the files.
The evil scum bags have nicked the 'Run' command! Now
what?!? Now you panic........only joking! Most Admins do
take out the run command as standard. It stops normal people
from going where they shouldn't be. However, we can out
smart them here by using the shortcut trick. This trick will
get us whatever we need and is just as powerful as the run
command, except it is slightly more inconvenient.
So
what's this magic shortcut trick then?
This trick is essential to a hackers toolkit. In Windows,
you can create a shortcut to just about anything from a
folder to a program or even a website! We can use this to
our advantage. It also gets round the annoying "Access
Denied" messages that explorer likes to give. Right click on
the desktop, select new -> shortcut. When it asks what you
want to make the shortcut to, type in "c:\windows\" without
the quotes and press enter. Hit enter twice more and you
will find a nice shortcut on your desktop. Click this twice
and it will dump you in the Windows directory. Nice eh?
When I
type in the directory in explorer, it returns "Access
Denied". Why?
This means that the Admin has told explorer not to accept
any requests to that folder, program or website. However
for some reason explorer will let you straight through if
you make a shortcut to that folder. Security is tight eh?
Okay, I've found the files.....only I can't delete them!
Windows says that are protected!
When windows says protected, it means write protected. This
is when you can't write or alter a file. This is done for
safety reasons. No one wants to accidentally delete the
registry. However because we're evil we want to and Windows
is stopping us. Don't worry, the protection is lame. Right
click on the file and hit properties. Once in, untick the
little box next to write protected and click apply then
okay. Now try deleting the file. You should find that it
goes without any hassle. This works with both registry
files.
Right,
I've sabotaged the files. What next?
To prevent Windows catching on, just turn off the computer
and switch it on again. If it starts up and the registry
fixing program starts, you'll have to repeat the procedure.
Sometimes it gets you, some times it doesn't. If it keeps
coming up, see the next section.
My plans are being thwarted by this stupid registry
checker! HELP! This nasty little program kept catching me
out. It is called regcheck and is usually found in the
windows or windows\system directory. It is called from an
ini file called regcheck.ini or regchck.ini . The name seems
to vary from system to system though I can't see any reason
why it should. You can alter the .ini file and remove the
checking program. The script will complete and still the
registry won't have been restored!! Tee hee!
The network is on the Internet but Cyber patrol won't let
me access any hacking sites! Cyber patrol is a royal pain
in the ass! However, it is very easy to remove. Press
ctrl+alt+del to bring up the task list. Select Cyber Patrol
and press enter. Cyber Patrol will now bring up a window
asking for a password. Damn, we've been beaten! Not so,
press ctrl+alt+del again. This time because Cyber Patrol has
ALREADY answered windows, it won't access again. Thus
Windows thoughtfully lets us close the program. Bye bye
stupid restrictions!
I
can't access the disk drive or the CDROM yet I see the
Admins doing it! How can I ?
This can be quite annoying. You have lots of stuff on disk
or CD but you just can't access them. Why? Because some sod
has removed their icons from 'My Computer'. *Sigh* I guess
its no go then right? Wrong! Although you can't see the
drives, they are still there. Load up ole faithful Internet
Explorer and type "D:\" without the quotes and press Enter.
It should display a list of the files on the CD. If it comes
up with "Access Denied" or " Permission Denied" then simply
make a shortcut to it. That way, you will see all the
files.
When I
try to access A: , the whole machine crashes on me! Why?
This happens when the floppy drive has been disabled in the
BIOS (Basic Input Output System). When you try to access
it, Windows will hang and force you to reboot. There is a
nice easy way of testing if the drive is open before you
crash your machine. When you log in or out, check the light
on the drive. If it flashes, the drive is available even if
you can't see it in the drive list. If it doesn't flash, the
drive has been disabled.
I MUST
have floppy access! How do I get it?
The only way to get disk access is to enable the floppy
drive in BIOS. This is almost ALWAYS passworded ( if not
you're really lucky ). You will need a BIOS cracker and
there are loads on the Internet. Check what BIOS the
machine has when it boots up ( Award, AmiBIOS etc etc). Get
a program for that. Obviously you will somehow need to get
it on the Network and there is a cunning way to do that to!
Sneaking files onto a Network
This trick is so simple and yet so effective. Create a
document that you could pass off as school work or
something. Make sure it has an image file in it. Drag and
drop the program file into your document and then place the
Image file over it. Save as a .doc file and put it on a
disk. Ask your friendly Admin to copy the file for you.
Most will just copy it and those that check will just see a
document with a piccy. They won't see your program. To get
the program back, you need to open the document on your
workstation. Drag the program back out and put it on your
desktop. This trick works with any file of any type.
Right,
I've got the program. What now ?
Run the program. It should give you a password. Write this
down and reset the machine. As the machine checks its
memory press the 'Del' button. It will then take you into
the BIOS where it will prompt for the password. Enter the
password that you got from the program. It should let you
in. Go into the Basic options and look for floppy drive. Go
to the first one. It probably says "Not Installed". Change
it so it says "3 1/2 inch floppy". Quit the BIOS and save
changes. When it boots up, the floppy drive will be active.
Do the reverse to disable it again to stop Admins finding
you and changing the password.
How
can I get back all those nice programs that they removed
from my start menu?
This is also quite easy. There is a program called
groupconv.exe . By running this, you'll restore the default
star menu along with all the usual programs and accessories.
Useful if the Admin has removed some program that you
prefer or want to use like Paint brush. You'll need paint to
pull off the next trick.
How do
I change this cursed background without using the display
properties?
Not so useful perhaps but nice to have none the less. No
one likes the default backgrounds but Admins tend to remove
the ability to change them which is rather upsetting. To
pull this off, you need access to paint. Normally this
isn't removed. Open your bitmap of choice into paint. From
the 'File' menu, select "Set as background". This will set
your bitmap as the background. Normally this won't stay the
same and will change back next time you login. Still, you
get a decent background for the duration of your session.
The
'Net Plug' trick
This is a nice easy way of getting Admin rights. I've taken
this from my other tutorial and pasted it here because I
don't want to have to type it out again. It is a very useful
technique which is why I'm duplicating it here.
This is an attack that I worked out myself before I was
given Admin status. It always works and I've yet to see it
fail. Make sure you are at a windows 95 or 98 machine. I
doubt NT would be fooled by this trick but I don't have any
NT machines so I can't test it for you.
Note : Most Admins, believe that they are the most
knowledgeable about their system. Many also believe that no
one else knows much about computers. In other words, for
whatever reasons, they are not too concerned about us i.e.
the idiots attacking their servers. Why? Because we aren't
good enough. So why waste valuable time configuring
security that won't be needed eh? I think I've made my
point. They don't see us as a threat. You don't consider a
house spider a threat so you don't go round putting up
netting to keep them out. Why? You can't be bothered. The
same rule applies here. Even if you are a computer genius,
play it dumb. Admins like to lecture the uninitiated and
would love to appear smarter than you. This is the way you
want it. The Admins will think you're a nice guy or gal,
totally harmless. This sometimes gives you more leverage
because they like you, they'll be willing to help you. They
also won't expect you to launch a huge assault on their
servers either However sometimes there are some smart
people out there who will notice your talents and pull you
over to their side. This isn't a bad place to be and can be
advantageous later.
First of all, login as yourself. Crash your computer and
reset it . Walk over to your favourite admin (the one that
hates you most is the best choice ) and apologise for being
an idiot but the computer won't let you login and could
s/he please come and take a look for you. Mumbling and
grumbling they'll come over. The best way to test if it is
the machine is for them to login. Of course, they'll log in
as an admin or equivalent. They'll check your account and
see that your account is fine. They'll tell you to log onto
another machine and your account will be okay. They'll now
log off and walk off in disgust thinking you are a computer
moron. Not so my friend, we've just done them good and
proper!
Turn off the computer and pull out the network lead. Turn
it back on again. The computer will detect that you aren't
on a network and will dump you at a desktop with
restrictions of the last user. If this user is the admin
then chances are that he or she will have full access to
everything including DOS and drive access. Perfect for
installing all those really kewl programs you have on a disk
in your pocket......
But you aren't on the network now. That's no fun is it?
Shove the lead back in and try to access a network drive.
This is the bit where you hope the Admins are sloppy or not
computer geniuses. Windows by default caches ALL passwords
so unless the Admins have told it not to ( a key deep in the
registry) then windows will have a nice copy of their
password. Go into 'My Computer' and click on a drive. Whoop
with glee as Netware logs you in as an Admin. Why does this
happen? Well windows still holds the username and password
last used to access the drive. You are logged into windows
as Admin and windows knows what credentials you last gave
to the server. So it supplies them for you. Likewise because
you are now authenticated you know have full access to the
NDS tree. Not only can you read but you can no write,
modify delete etc etc. Much more fun!
Now, this is the bit where you have to be sneaky. You have
to make a new account for yourself or upgrade your old one.
There are pros and cons to each of your choices. If you
alter your existing account and they check it for some
reason ( maybe you got locked out? ) they'll notice you have
admin rights and shoot you. If you make a new user, it
might get found quicker but there is no way to point to you
( it was created by user admin after all tee hee ). The
choice is yours. You can always do both.
I
still need DOS access to run the programs. How can I get it?
Not all Admins actually remove the ability to run DOS
programs, simply because they are needed. It is likely
though that the shortcuts and the run command will have been
removed. Also I doubt you will be able to shutdown into
MS-DOS mode. So how do you call up the window?
Well, we can use our usual shortcut trick. The program that
opens the DOS windows is called "command.exe" . To run the
program, simply make a shortcut to "command" without the
quotes. Double clicking on the shortcut will pull up the
MS-DOS prompt.
I've done that but I get "This has been disabled by your
system Administrator If you get this, your Admin has locked
out the ability for your user to run DOS programs. Windows
is suprisingly tight on DOS access. There is only ONE way
that I currently know of ( I'm always searching for new ones
though) to bypass this whilst logged in as yourself. To do
this, you need a program called "poledit.exe".
What
the hell is poledit?
Poledit ( short for policy editor ) is the program used to
alter user settings on any given computer. This program
edits the user.dat file that we saw earlier. It might have
occured to some Admins to block access but I have yet to
see it done. Normally registry editing is barred but that
seems to be only when using regedit.
Poledit is NOT installed by default. You will find it on
the Windows 98 CD in the resource kit folder. The file
itself isn't very big and it doesn't need any support files.
You can sneak it onto the network by hiding it in a Word
file. If you have CDROM access, you could just load it in,
or burn the program to CD.
Poledit controls ALL the access rights such as control
panel access, display properties, find and run commands,
DOS access, shutting down to MSDOS mode etc etc. This tool
can give them all back to you!
Okay,
I've managed to get poledit onto the network. now what?
Right, run the program. It will bring up a list of users
and their policies. There will probably be two policies
stored there ( at least). One will be called Admin or
similar and the other default. You will be user default.
Now, alter the settings to whatever you want and save them.
Quit the program and you should find that your access has
been increased!
I think it worked but when I logged back onto the network,
the old settings kicked in. This is a pain because it means
your settings are stored on the server too. When it logs in,
it activates the settings you updated and then overlays the
new ones from the server. Annoying huh? Well there isn't all
that much you can do about it apart from use the Net Plug
trick.
How does it help us here? Well, turn off the computer,
unplug the network lead and turn it back on. It will
automatically log you in as the last user, i.e yourself.
However because there is no server, it will pull its
restrictions from the local file ( which we edited of
course). Plug the network lead back into the computer and
try to access the drives. Even if it asks you to login again
( to access the network ), Windows isn't clever enough to
pull off the updated policy files. You're home free!!
Credits
Pradeep Kishnani
rockystone@redifffmail.com
http://completehack.focusindia.com |