Exploiting SeManageVolumePrivilege

SeManageVolumePrivilege allows specific volume-level management operations, such as lock volume, defragmenting, volume dismount, and setting valid data length on Windows XP and later. A file system driver explicitly enforces this particular privilege primarily based on FSCTL operations. In this case, the file system makes a policy decision to enforce this privilege. The determination of whether this privilege is held by the caller is made by the security reference monitor as part of the normal privilege check.

In short

• SeManageVolumePrivilege allows a user to:
  • Perform volume maintenance tasks (e.g., defragmentation)
  • Key abuse: Modify the security descriptor (DACL) of any file/directory on the volume via SetFileSecurity() API
  • This grants full control (read/write/modify) over protected system files.

Exploitation Workflow

• Confirm privilege:

whoami /priv
# Output must show: SeManageVolumePrivilege [Enabled]

• Use exploit tool:

  • Tool: SeManageVolumeExploit
  • Mechanism:
    • Recursively traverses the filesystem (e.g., C:\)
    • Modifies DACLs to grant FULL_CONTROL to the current user
    • Overrides system file protections

• Execute exploit tool:

.\SeManageVolumeExploit.exe
# Output: "Entries changed: 837"
# (Indicates number of files/dirs modified)

• Consequence:
  • Current user now owns C:\
  • Can read/write sensitive files (e.g., CA certificates in C:\Windows\System32\CertSrv)