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Microsoft Windows is prone to a flaw in the way it loads user profiles. The program uses a fixed path to look for specific files or libraries. This path includes directories that may not be trusted or under user control. By placing a custom version of user profile in to the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList registry key, the program will load it before the legitimate version. This allows a local attacker or an attacker with access to the local network to inject custom code that will be run with the privilege of the program or user executing the program. This attack can be leveraged remotely in some cases by placing the malicious file or library on a network share or extracted archive downloaded from a remote source. This can be done by tricking a user into opening "trojaned user profile" from the local file system or a USB drive in some cases. This attack scenario is certainly possible, but rare.
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