Preventing Executable Files from Accessing Network VMware ThinApp Setting Parameters in INI Files
VMware ThinApp is a popular application virtualization solution that isolates applications from the underlying operating system. One of its features is the ability to modify application settings through INI files. However, this can pose a security risk if executable files are allowed to access these files over the network.
Understanding the Issue
When an application is virtualized with ThinApp, its configuration files, including INI files, are encapsulated within the virtual application package. By default, ThinApp does not allow external access to these files. However, if the application needs to access its settings from an external INI file, ThinApp provides a way to do so by creating a shared variable.
This shared variable is stored in the ThinApp configuration file (.ini or .xml) and can be accessed by the application through an environment variable. The issue arises when an executable file is allowed to access this shared variable, potentially leading to unauthorized access to the application settings.
Preventing Executable Files from Accessing Shared Variables
To prevent executable files from accessing shared variables in ThinApp, you can follow these steps:
- Locate the ThinApp configuration file that contains the shared variable.
- Edit the configuration file and remove the line that sets the environment variable for the shared variable.
- Save the configuration file and rebuild the ThinApp package.
By removing the environment variable, the application will no longer be able to access the shared variable, effectively preventing executable files from accessing the network INI file.
Alternative Solutions
An alternative solution is to use ThinApp's built-in registry redirection feature to redirect the application's INI file to a local path. This way, the application will only be able to access its INI file locally, and network access will be denied.