__________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Center ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN FrontPage Sub-Component Vulnerability [Microsoft Security Bulletin MS01-035] June 25, 2001 19:00 GMT Number L-100 ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: Microsoft's Visual Studio Remote Application Deployment (RAD) Support has a buffer overflow vulnerability. PLATFORM: Those that have RAD installed on IIS 4.0 or IIS 5.0 web servers. DAMAGE: An attacker could use the vulnerability to load and execute artibrary code on the server in the IUSR_machine context and possibly in the SYSTEM context. SOLUTION: Remove RAD from the server, or apply the patch as directed. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY The risk is LOW. RAD is not installed by default onto the ASSESSMENT: server. The installation process raises a warning that RAD should not be installed on production systems. The warning must be actively acknowledged for RAD to be installed. ______________________________________________________________________________ [Start Microsoft Advisory] Title: FrontPage Server Extension Sub-Component Contains Unchecked Buffer Date: 21 June 2001 Software: Microsoft Visual Studio RAD Support in FrontPage Server Extensions Impact: Run code of attacker's choice Bulletin: MS01-035 Microsoft encourages customers to review the Security Bulletin at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-035.asp. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue: ====== FrontPage Server Extensions ship as part of IIS 4.0 and 5.0, and facilitate the development of Web sites and Web-based applications. FrontPage Server Extensions includes an additional, optional sub-component called Visual Studio RAD (Remote Application Deployment) Support. This sub-component allows Visual InterDev 6.0 users to register and unregister COM objects on an IIS 4.0 or 5.0 Server. This sub-component contains an unchecked buffer in a section that processes input information. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability against any server with this sub-component installed by establishing a web session on with the server and passing a specially malformed packet to the server component. The attacker could use that packet to thereby load code of his choice for execution on the server. An attack that exploits this vulnerability would execute in the IUSR_machinename context (see Q142868). However, it is possible under certain circumstances to execute code in the SYSTEM context. It is important to note that this feature is not installed by default with FPSE. It is also not installed by default on either of IIS 4.0 or 5.0. Also, when the feature is selected during installation, a warning message is raised alerting the administrator that this feature should not be installed on production machines, especially if the production machine has Internet access. This is because this feature is only intended for facilitating internal development. The administrator must acknowledge the warning to successfully install the feature. Mitigating Factors: ==================== - While FrontPage Server Extensions installs by default with IIS, Visual Studio RAD Deployment Support coordination is not provided with FPSE by default on an initial installation of IIS. Installation must be selected and approved by the user in charge of the server using the IIS setup process. If a user selects this sub-component during an initial installation, a warning is raised stating that this should not be installed on a production system. Users must actively acknowledge this warning to complete the installation. Patch Availability: =================== - A patch is available to fix this vulnerability. Please read the Security Bulletin http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms01-035.asp for information on obtaining this patch. Acknowledgment: =============== - Nsfocus (http://www.nsfocus.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. [End Microsoft Advisory] _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Microsoft for the information contained in this bulletin. _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Center, is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination among computer security teams worldwide. CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. CIAC can be contacted at: Voice: +1 925-422-8193 (7x24) FAX: +1 925-423-8002 STU-III: +1 925-423-2604 E-mail: ciac@ciac.org Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are available from the CIAC Computer Security Archive. World Wide Web: http://www.ciac.org/ Anonymous FTP: ftp.ciac.org PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE, ESnet, and NIH computing communities receive CIAC bulletins. If you are not part of these communities, please contact your agency's response team to report incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with CIAC. The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their constituencies can be obtained via WWW at http://www.first.org/. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. LAST 10 CIAC BULLETINS ISSUED (Previous bulletins available from CIAC) L-089: Windows Unchecked Buffer in Media Player .ASX Processor L-090: Cisco 11000 Series Switch, Web Management Vulnerability L-091: Microsoft Exchange Server Outlook Web Access Flaw L-092: Microsoft Predictable Name Pipes In Telnet L-093: HP-UX kmmodreg Vulnerability L-094: BIND Inadvertent Local Exposure of HMAC-MD5 (TSIG) Keys L-095: Microsoft SQL Query Method Vulnerability L-096: Red Hat LPRng Vulnerability L-097: Cisco 6400 NRP2 telnet Vulnerability L-098: Microsoft Index Server ISAPI Extension Buffer Overflow