CSRSS Backspace Bug in Windows NT 4/NT 2000/NT XP

[samaru]

Hey guys. I came across this just recently, but I'm not sure if you guys are aware of it. It crashes csrss.exe (thus W2K, NT, XP) through the command console. I tried writing the same program in Perl, and it did in fact crash my system. I did not see a BSOD, just automatically froze for a millisecond then rebooted.

# The Perl code was very simple:

while($x=1) {
print "testing\t\b\b\b\b\b\b\b";
}

csrss.exe seems to have a problem handling many backspaces after a tab when being displayed in the command console. As this loops infinitely, it tries to access memory within the scope of this string value, and causes csrss.exe to crash. Any programming language that has access to the command console, and execute programs, can do this. As long as it is displayed, it will crash, so even a text file in the console will do so. There are some instances when the bug will not be replicated. For more info check out the following.

http://homepages.tesco.net/~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/csrss-backspace-bug.html

http://www.zappadoodle.com

[cscgal]

heh - niiice ...
btw, if you're having a problem getting the forum to recognize a full link, surround it in

[url]http://blah[/url]

This way the link doesn't break off before the URL ends

[samaru]

Whoops. I meant out of the scope, not within the scope.

[samaru]

Good news (if anyone cared, lol). Microsoft has fixed this problem in SP3. Took them long enough. :)