CVE-1999-1431

Microsoft Zero Administration Kit - Policy Bypass via Office 97 Explorer Launch

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-1999-1431. PoCs published by Satu Laksela.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This is a technical writeup describing a bypass method for Zero Administration Kit (ZAK) restrictions on Windows NT. It explains how users can circumvent application execution policies by leveraging Microsoft Office's File:Open dialog to launch Windows Explorer and execute forbidden applications.

Description

ZAK in Appstation mode allows users to bypass the "Run only allowed apps" policy by starting Explorer from Office 97 applications (such as Word), installing software into the TEMP directory, and changing the name to that for an allowed application, such as Winword.exe.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WRITEUP VERIFIED
by Satu Laksela · textlocalwindows
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/19144

This is a technical writeup describing a bypass method for Zero Administration Kit (ZAK) restrictions on Windows NT. It explains how users can circumvent application execution policies by leveraging Microsoft Office's File:Open dialog to launch Windows Explorer and execute forbidden applications.

Classification
Writeup 90%
Attack Type
Auth Bypass
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Zero Administration Kit (ZAK) on Windows NT
Auth required
Prerequisites: Access to Microsoft Word or Excel · Write access to the temp directory
mistral-large-3 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Exploit, Vendor Advisory vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/181
Mailing List mailing-list x_refsource_ntbugtraq
http://marc.info/?l=ntbugtraq&m=91576100022688&w=2
Mailing List mailing-list x_refsource_ntbugtraq
http://marc.info/?l=ntbugtraq&m=91606260910008&w=2

Scores

EPSS 0.0965
EPSS Percentile 94.9%

Details

Status published
Products (1)
microsoft/zero_administration_kit 1.0
Published Jan 07, 2005
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026