Security issue with GroupWise 6 and LDAP authentication in PostOffice

From: Frank Bulk (frnkblkat_private)
Date: Wed Feb 20 2002 - 14:43:51 PST

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    Issue: Any user can login into any GroupWise 
    account.
    
    Environment: GroupWise 6 Post Office using LDAP 
    authentication AND security configuration of 
    PostOffice leaves LDAP User Name and Password 
    fields blank in the Post Office Agent object in 
    ConsoleOne. 
    
    Exploit: Run GroupWise as any user 
    (either "grpwise /@u-?") OR if you are not NDS 
    authenticated, whatever the registry has stored as 
    the last person who logged into GroupWise) and 
    leave the password blank.  Hit enter a couple of times 
    and you will get right into the account.
    
    Details:  TID 10067921 should be posted as it shows 
    the steps you need to take to leave LDAP 
    authentication on, and not have the password 
    problem.  When I spoke to the technician on the 14th 
    it was supposed to have been posted, but it hasn't yet.
    
    Fix: 
    A.  Novell has developed a workaround to this issue 
    in the LDAP spec to prevent GroupWise accounts 
    from being accessed without a password. This fix is 
    found in the Field Test File FGW62N4.EXE. This can 
    be found at support.novell.com and searching for the 
    filename.  
    Pro: solves problem, retains current password 
    functionality.
    Con: New code comes with possible stability issues.
    
    B.  Without implementing the new code, the issue 
    can be resolved as follows: Fill in the LDAP User 
    Name and Password fields in the Post Office Agent 
    object in ConsoleOne. The LDAP User Name is the 
    eDirectory account that the POA, the Internet Agent, 
    and the WebAccess Agent can use to log in to the 
    LDAP server in order to authenticate GroupWise 
    users. 
    Pro: this approach to LDAP authentication is faster 
    and requires fewer connections to the LDAP server 
    than if each GroupWise user authenticates to the 
    LDAP server individually. 
    Con: From within GroupWise, users will not be able 
    to use grace logins, nor will they be able to change 
    their LDAP passwords. 
    
    Technical details (in Novell's words):  This isn't 
    technically a bug, but a configuration issue. In 
    accordance with the LDAP v3 RFC 2251, an LDAP 
    bind in which a username is provided but a password 
    is not [ie. blank] is treated as an anonymous bind. 
    This means that a bind is granted to users providing 
    a username but no password.  The bind granted is an 
    anonymous bind but, based on limitations in the 
    LDAP spec, most LDAP implementations do not 
    provide any indication that the bind is in fact 
    anonymous. GroupWise relies on the success or 
    failure of a bind to determine whether a users 
    username and password is authentic when LDAP 
    authentication is being used [if you put LDAP trace on 
    you will see that blank password become anonymous 
    binds].  The problem is in the RFC, not GroupWise. 
    Once we realized that RFC had the hole, we made a 
    change in the POA.  This problem only came to our 
    attention about 2 weeks ago so it takes time for 
    information to get out. 
    
    Remaining question: How come the Padlock fix was 
    so heavily advertised (read: spammed) and this 
    major hole was open?  Why didn't the FTF make a 
    bigger deal of it?
    



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