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securityvulnsSecurityvulnsSECURITYVULNS:DOC:1597
HistoryMay 11, 2001 - 12:00 a.m.

Security Bulletin MS01-025

2001-05-1100:00:00
vulners.com
16

Title: Index Server Search Function Contains Unchecked Buffer
Date: 10 May 2001
Software: Index Server 2.0, Indexing Service for Windows 2000
Impact: Run code of attacker's choice; file disclosure
Bulletin: MS01-025

Microsoft encourages customers to review the Security Bulletin at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-025.asp.


Issue:

The patches provided in the bulletin address two security
vulnerabilities that are unrelated to each other except in the sense
that both affect Index Server 2.0. The first vulnerability is a
buffer overrun vulnerability. Index Server 2.0 has an unchecked
buffer in a function that processes search requests. If an overly
long value were provided for a particular search parameter, it would
overrun the buffer. If the buffer were overrun with random data, it
would cause Index Server to fail. If it were overrun with carefully
selected data, code of the attacker's choice could be made to run on
the server, in the Local System security context.

The second vulnerability affects both Index Server 2.0 and Indexing
Service in Windows 2000, and is a new variant of the "Malformed
Hit-Highlighting" vulnerability discussed in Microsoft Security
Bulletin MS00-006
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS00-006.asp).
The new variant has almost the same scope as the original
vulnerability, but potentially exposes a new file type If an attacker
provided an invalid search request, she could read "include" files
residing on the web server. The new patch eliminates all known
variants of the vulnerability.

Mitigating Factors:

Index Server 2.0 buffer overrun:

  • The vulnerability only affects Index Server 2.0. Indexing
    Services in Windows 2000 is not affected by it.
  • In order to exploit the vulnerability, the attacker would
    need the ability to authenticate to the server and to
    create a named pipe connection to it (which requires access
    to NetBIOS, which should be blocked at the firewall). As a
    result, it is likely that this vulnerability could, in a
    properly configured network, only be exploited by an intranet
    user.
  • Index Server 2.0 is not provided as part of Windows NT 4.0;
    instead, it is part of the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. It
    installs by default as part of that package, but does not run
    by default.
    New Variant of "Malformed Hit-Highlighting" vulnerability:
  • The vulnerability would only allow files to be read. They
    could not be added, changed or deleted via this vulnerability.
  • Server-side "include" files should not contain sensitive data.
    If this recommendation has been followed, there would be no
    sensitive data to compromise via this vulnerability.
  • The vulnerability would only allow files residing on the web
    server - and in the same logical drive as the server's root
    directory - to be read. It would not allow files elsewhere
    on the server, or files residing on a remote server, to be read.

Patch Availability:

Acknowledgment:

  • David Litchfield of @Stake (http://www.atstake.com) for reporting
    the Index Server 2.0 buffer overrun.
  • Mike Mulling (http://www.gap.com) for reporting the new variant
    of the "Malformed Hit-Highlighting" vulnerability

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