An attacker could then install programs view, change, or delete data or create new accounts with full user rights," it added.
"An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. "An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists because of overly permissive Access Control Lists (ACLs) on multiple system files, including the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database," said the advisory. In the hours after we first published this story, Microsoft issued a security advisory for this flaw and issued it the catalogue number CVE-2021-36934.
So crafty malware that got onto a PC via a phishing email, pirated software, or a malicious web link would be able to locate the SAM file in the shadow copy, read the user password hashes and probably have a fair chance at cracking the hashes or using them to log onto remote servers.Įven the best Windows 10 antivirus software might not be able to stop all such attacks. Even if it's using a unique file name, it's a predictable file name in a predictable location. For most PCs, that means a new shadow copy every month.Ī shadow copy isn't always that hidden.
Your PC creates a shadow copy every time it installs a system update or upgrade. But Lykkegaard found that he, even as an unprivileged user, could access the backed-up version of the SAM file in the "shadow copy" that most Windows systems create.Ī shadow copy is a backup, hidden on the main drive, of a Windows system's most important files. It's not easy for any user to access the SAM file while a computer is running. So it's not good when any piece of software or any user on a Windows system can suddenly see the NTLM hashes of all the other users' passwords. The problem is that the NTLM algorithm is pretty weak, and hashes can often be "cracked," or reversed to give the original password.Įven worse, some Windows-related functions, such as accessing a networked server, let you log in using the NTLM hash rather than the password itself. As an example, the hash of "password", using Microsoft's own NTLM algorithm, is "8846F7EAEE8FB117AD06BDD830B7586C". "Hashing" passwords means running them through a one-way encryption algorithm that cannot (in theory) be reversed. The SAM file in the Windows Registry contains "hashed" versions of all the user passwords on a given Windows system, including the passwords of administrative users. It's just they are certainly not going to sustain a development budget on a title that works well on only 10% or less of existing PCs at time of launch.See more So what's up with this Windows flaw? They may even clear some small additional profit on the PC port. Still, like I said, if their business plan was entirely focused on the consoles they could still be fine. That will not help Serious Sam's publisher with this title, it will be on the deep discount rack by then. The only likely mainstream response is to choose another game.Īnd further yes, I expect the Steam surveys from next year and the year after to look different. IF the actual answer was double - an incredibly unlikely proposition, the error is more likely a couple points at most - would it still change the fact the publisher is aiming at a tiny fraction of existing PCs and therefore likely blowing it financially?Īnd yes, everyone knows you can try to play below recommended specs, just like everyone knows that is code for you will experience stutter, bugs, and an overall unfun experience. While Steam's measurement of ~9.2% may not be exact for every PC that has played a game in August, there's also no reason to believe the exact answer is materially different. Serious Sam 4 arrives on PC and Google Stadia this September 24.Ĭlick to expand.All accurate, but also pretty much non-responsive to what I said. The game was also subtitled Planet Badass, but that was dropped due to how it translated-or failed to translate-into other languages.
Serious Sam 4 was supposed to arrive on both PC and Google Stadia in August, but like many recent titles, it was delayed. While Doom Eternal is another game that recommends at least a GTX 1080 or RTX 2060, that eight-core CPU demand is pretty hardcore-even Microsoft Flight Simulator asks for either a Ryzen 5 1500X (four-core) or Intel i5-8400 (six-core). Graphics: nVidia GeForce 1080/2060 or AMD Radeon Vega64/5700 (8 GB VRAM)Īdditional Notes: Recommended APIs include DX12 and Vulkan.
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 780/970/1050 or AMD Radeon 7950/280/470 (3 GB VRAM)Īdditional Notes: Requirements are based on 720p rendering resolution at 30 FPS Serious Sam 4 recommended specs: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system