The "Remember my Password" feature in MSN Messenger 7.5 stores...

Vulnerability Description

The "Remember my Password" feature in MSN Messenger 7.5 stores passwords in an encrypted format under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\Creds registry key, which might allow local users to obtain the original passwords via a program that calls CryptUnprotectData, as demonstrated by the "MSN Password Recovery.exe" program. NOTE: it could be argued that local-only password recovery is inherently insecure because the decryption methods and keys must be stored somewhere on the local system, and are thus inherently accessible with varying degrees of effort. Perhaps this issue should not be included in CVE.

References

• http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/421921/100/0/threaded
• http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/422283/100/0/threaded
• http://www.msn-password-recovery.com/