Access Database Program

[robotics0]

Hi, could someone highlight how I would go about retrieving serial number for an access database program which has a time trial period, with obviously has no "exe" file or "dlls"


"Personnel Plus Training and Safety Program"

http://download.cnet.com/Personnel-Plus-Training-and-Safety/3000-2064_4-10191304.html

[Mkz]

If it's only an access software, you'll need to view the VBA code behind it and understand what it does.
Alt+F11 will open the VBA editor and allow you to view modules, class objects, etc. and that's the first place to start looking.

[user1]

show link to your program

[Mkz]

From the installation file you shared, here are some conclusions.

The binary is an MDE file, which is a compiled version of an Access database (MDB).
AFAIK there is no way to go back from the MDE to the original code. Unlike VBA macros for Excel, for instance, which can be extracted with some tools, I don't know any for Access code to be extracted from the MDE.
You can search the web for this, you'll likely find some paid services for this reversing but no free ones.

Anyway, in addition to the MDE "binary" there are also 2 regular MDB files containing tables and records.
The password to open these is "TerminalVelocity428". You can then browse the data and the tables and try to check where the expiry might be validated against.

Tables genPreference* and genProgramRegistry look like interesting ones.
Good luck!

[robotics0]

Hi Mkz, Yes I was able to source passwords for tables and records, will look into the tables you mentioned more closely and see if i can solve.

cheers

[papu]

Excellent answer, you always learn something

[ontryit]

Originally Posted by Mkz

From the installation file you shared, here are some conclusions.

The binary is an MDE file, which is a compiled version of an Access database (MDB).
AFAIK there is no way to go back from the MDE to the original code. Unlike VBA macros for Excel, for instance, which can be extracted with some tools, I don't know any for Access code to be extracted from the MDE.
You can search the web for this, you'll likely find some paid services for this reversing but no free ones.

Anyway, in addition to the MDE "binary" there are also 2 regular MDB files containing tables and records.
The password to open these is "TerminalVelocity428". You can then browse the data and the tables and try to check where the expiry might be validated against.

Tables genPreference* and genProgramRegistry look like interesting ones.
Good luck!

I just wonder how did you get the password?
What tool used?

[Mkz]

Originally Posted by ontryit

I just wonder how did you get the password?
What tool used?

"strings"
It's in clear text all over the binary file (*.mde).

Just run something like "strings HPPSXP2002_XP.mde | findstr PWD" and you can see for yourself. I'm using the SysInternals strings binary, which lists both Ascii and Unicode occurrences.

Had this not been in cleartext, a password cracker for the *.mdb files would need to be searched for (can't remember any at the moment) or intercept API calls to the Access runtime to check which connection strings were used by the *.mde to open the database files.