[VulnWatch] NSFOCUS SA2004-01 : DoS Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows SPNEGO Protocol Decoding

From: by way of NSFOCUS Security Team (security@private)
Date: Wed Apr 14 2004 - 02:51:18 PDT

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    Topic:  DoS Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows SPNEGO Protocol Decoding
    
    Release Date: 2004-04-14
    
    CVE CAN ID: CAN-2004-0119
    
    http://www.nsfocus.com/english/homepage/research/0401.htm
    
    Affected Software and Systems:
    ===================
    - - Microsoft Windows XP
    - - Microsoft Windows 2000
    - - Microsoft Windows 2003
    
    Unaffected Software and Systems:
    ===================
    - - Microsoft Windows 9x
    - - Microsoft Windows NT
    
    Summary:
    =========
    
    NSFOCUS Security Team has found there is a remote DoS vulnerability in the
    SPNEGO protocol decoding function of Microsoft Windows system. Exploiting
    the vulnerability remote attackers could cause Windows system to crash or
    malfunction.
    
    Description:
    ============
    
    Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation Mechanism (SPNEGO) protocol is used
    to negotiate which security mechanism should be adopted. Windows system
     allows various authentication mechanisms, it also uses SPNEGO protocol to
     implement the authentication mechanism negotiation between the clients and
     servers.
    
    There is a security vulnerability when Windows system handles SPNEGO protocol
    codes, which allows attackers to launch DoS attacks.
    
    When a carefully crafted SPNEGO NegTokenInit request is sent, a null pointer
    reference error might occur in LSASRV.DLL, resulting in LSASS.EXE crash. This
    will make all the operations related to system authentication (such as
    remote access to SMB share, or interactive local login) unavailable. For
    Windows 2003, it will result in automatic shutting off or bluescreen.
    
    Attackers can launch attacks through any service that uses SPNEGO, such as
    TCP port 139, 445. By default IIS also negotiates which authentication
    protocol  (for example, NTLM, Kerberos, etc)should be adopted by SPNEGO,
    therefore, it's possible for attackers to launch attacks through IIS.
    
    - From vendor's response the same type of malformed request could still
    have triggered a buffer overflow issue in the subsequent code, if they were
    to have only fixed the DoS issue.
    Vendor's patch fixes both the DoS and buffer overflow issues.
    
    
    Workaround:
    =============
    
    * Restrict access to the following ports from untrusted IPs at the firewall:
    
        445/UDP
        139/TCP
        445/TCP
    
     * For the system that is providing WEB service through IIS, either of the
       following methods can be used to mitigate the threat:
    
        1. Disable "Integrated windows authentication" in IIS service
    
        2. Disable authentication negotiation. Only allow authentication
           through NTLM by the following command:
    
           cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/NTAuthenticationProviders "NTLM"
    
           adsutil.vbs can be found in the adminscripts directory of IIS.
           More detail is available at:
           http://support.microsoft.com/?id=215383
    
    Vendor Status:
    ==============
    
    2004.02.19  Informed the vendor
    2004.02.19  Vendor confirmed the vulnerability
    2004.04.13  Microsoft released a security bulletin (MS04-011) and relative
                patches for the vulnerability.
    
    Detailed information for the Microsoft security bulletin is available at:
    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-011.mspx
    
    Additional Information:
    ========================
    
    The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
    name CAN-2004-0119 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in the
    CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security
    problems. Candidates may change significantly before they become official
    CVE entries.
    
    Acknowledgment:
    ===============
    
    The vulnerability was found by Chen Qing of NSFOCUS Security Team.
    
    DISCLAIMS:
    ==========
    THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IS RELEASED BY NSFOCUS "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY
    OF ANY KIND. NSFOCUS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
    EXCEPT FOR THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY. IN NO EVENT SHALL NSFOCUS
    BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT,
    INCIDENTAL,CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES,
    EVEN IF NSFOCUS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
    DISTRIBUTION OR REPRODUCTION OF THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED THAT THE
    ADVISORY IS NOT MODIFIED IN ANY WAY.
    
    Copyright 1999-2004 NSFOCUS. All Rights Reserved. Terms of use.
    
    
    NSFOCUS Security Team <security@private>
    NSFOCUS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD
    (http://www.nsfocus.com)
    
    PGP Key: http://www.nsfocus.com/homepage/research/pgpkey.asc
    Key fingerprint = F8F2 F5D1 EF74 E08C 02FE  1B90 D7BF 7877 C6A6 aF6DA
    
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