An anonymous reader writes: Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and subsequent Windows 10 variations fail to properly apply ASLR, rendering this crucial Windows security feature useless. The bug appeared when Microsoft changed a registry value in Windows 8 and occurs only in certain ASLR configuration modes. Basically, if users have enabled system-wide ASLR protection turned on, a bug in ASLR’s implementation on Windows 8 and later will not generate enough entropy (random data) to start application binaries in random memory locations. For ASLR to work properly, users must configure it to work in a system-wide bottom-up mode. An official patch from Microsoft is not available yet, but a registry hack can be applied to make sure ASLR starts in the correct mode. The bug was discovered by CERT vulnerability analyst Will Dormann while investigating a 17-years-old bug in the Microsoft Office equation editor, to which Microsoft appears to have lost the source code and needed to patch it manually.

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Source: Slashdot – Windows 8 and Later Fail To Properly Apply ASLR