Microsoft Windows File Locking DoS Vulnerability

File locking is a mechanism used to assure other processes do not modify a file while the lock is in place. Under some operating systems, when a file is locked it is not possible to access it in any way, including reading from the file. File locking is generally not a high privilege operation.

Applications which depend on the ability to gain a file lock will be blocked until the original lock is released. Several important Windows services depend on the ability to gain a file lock, including .scr screen saver files and the login process. Holding a lock will cause a Dos situation.

Other operating systems may share this design.


 

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