Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 17:18:25 -0400 From: Russ To: NTBUGTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM Subject: Alert: Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-017) - RAS & RRAS Passwords On March 20th, Dieter Goepferich [dieter.goepferich@bigfoot.com] discovered a vulnerability involving both RAS and RRAS. This was subsequently reported in Heise Online, a German publication; http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/cp-12.04.99-000/ http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/hos-15.04.99-000/ Dieter originally reported it via some "product improvement suggestion" web form on www.microsoft.de back in March. Together we informed Microsoft Security (secure@microsoft.com) back in April. By default the registry key is only accessible to Administrator and the user/owner of the passwords, but it represents a potential threat and a location of password information which would not otherwise be expected. See; http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms99-017.asp for the complete write up including fix locations. There are two KB articles about this (one for RAS, and another for RRAS). They were not yet available at the time of writing. RAS http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q230/6/81.asp RRAS http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q233/3/03.asp Cheers, Russ - NTBugtraq Editor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 15:14:46 -0700 From: aleph1@UNDERGROUND.ORG To: BUGTRAQ@netspace.org Subject: Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-017) The following is a Security Bulletin from the Microsoft Product Security Notification Service. Please do not reply to this message, as it was sent from an unattended mailbox. ******************************** Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-017) -------------------------------------- Patch Available for "RAS and RRAS Password" Vulnerability Originally Posted: May 27, 1999 Summary ======= Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a vulnerability in the Microsoft (r) Windows NT (r) Remote Access Service (RAS) and Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) clients, in which a user's password is cached even if the user de-selects the "Save password" option. Issue ===== When the client software for Microsoft RAS or RRAS is used to dial into a server, a dialogue requests the user's userid and password for the server. On the same dialogue is a checkbox whose caption reads "Save password" and which is intended to provide the user with the option to cache their security credentials if desired. However, the implemented client functionality actually caches the user's credentials regardless of whether the checkbox is selected or de-selected. Cached security credentials, which include the password, are stored in the registry and protected by ACLs whose default values authorize only local administrators and the user to access them. Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 also provides the ability to strongly encrypts the password data stored in the registry using the SYSKEY feature. While there are no reports of customers being adversely affected by this vulnerability, Microsoft is proactively releasing a patch that restores correct functionality to the password caching function. The patch should be applied to all machines that are used as RAS or RRAS clients. It is important to note that RRAS servers also can be used as RRAS clients, and any machines used in such a capacity should have the patch applied as well. Affected Software Versions ========================== - Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 - Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 - Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition What Microsoft is Doing ======================= Microsoft has released patches that fix the problem identified. The patches are available for download from the sites listed below in What Customers Should Do. Microsoft also has sent this security bulletin to customers subscribing to the Microsoft Product Security Notification Service. See http://www.microsoft.com/security/services/bulletin.asp for more information about this free customer service. Microsoft has published the following Knowledge Base (KB) article on this issue: - Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article Q230681, RAS Credentials Saved when "Save Password" Option Unchecked, http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q230/6/81.asp - Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article Q233303, RRAS Credentials Saved when "Save Password" Option Unchecked, http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q233/3/03.asp (Note: It might take 24 hours from the original posting of this bulletin for the KB article to be visible in the Web-based Knowledge Base.) What Customers Should Do ======================== Microsoft highly recommends that customers evaluate the degree of risk that this vulnerability poses to their systems and determine whether to download and install the patch. The patch can be found at: - RAS: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public /fixes/usa/nt40/Hotfixes-PostSP5/RASPassword-fix/ - RRAS: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public /fixes/usa/nt40/Hotfixes-PostSP5/RRASPassword-fix/ (Note: The URLs above have been wrapped for readability) More Information ================ Please see the following references for more information related to this issue. - Microsoft Security Bulletin MS99-017, Patch Available for "RAS and RRAS Password Caching" Vulnerability, (The Web-posted version of this bulletin), http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms99-017.asp. - Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article Q230681, RAS Credentials Saved when "Save Password" Option Unchecked, http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q230/6/81.asp. - Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article Q233303, RRAS Credentials Saved when "Save Password" Option Unchecked, http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q233/3/03.asp Obtaining Support on this Issue =============================== If you require technical assistance with this issue, please contact Microsoft Technical Support. For information on contacting Microsoft Technical Support, please see http://support.microsoft.com/support/contact/default.asp. Revisions ========= - May 27, 1999: Bulletin Created. For additional security-related information about Microsoft products, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/security ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. (c) 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use. ******************************************************************* You have received this e-mail bulletin as a result of your registration to the Microsoft Product Security Notification Service. You may unsubscribe from this e-mail notification service at any time by sending an e-mail to MICROSOFT_SECURITY-SIGNOFF-REQUEST@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM The subject line and message body are not used in processing the request, and can be anything you like. For more information on the Microsoft Security Notification Service please visit http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletin.htm. For security-related information about Microsoft products, please visit the Microsoft Security Advisor web site at http://www.microsoft.com/security. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 07:59:35 -0400 From: Russ To: NTBUGTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM Subject: Re: Alert: Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-017) - RAS & RRAS Passwords Wow, talk about goofing up. Eric Schultze correctly pointed out that he, together with Lisa O'Connor, Martin Dolphin, and Joe Greene reported this problem with RAS originally way back on March 19th, 1998 <-- (note, 1998, not 1999). See the original message at; http://ntbugtraq.ntadvice.com/default.asp?pid=36&sid=1&A2=ind9803&L=ntbu gtraq&F=P&S=&P=4209 (URL is wrapped). I, most inappropriately, credited another with the discovery in March of this year. Its funny, when David LeBlanc first prompted me about this "discovery" this year, I could have sworn I'd seen it before but I failed to check my own archives...tsk tsk...;-] So, to Lisa, Martin, Joe, and Eric, please accept my humble apologies! To Microsoft, why the hell did it take a publication in a German magazine to provoke you to fix something that had been reported here a full year before?? Could it have been the fact that the 3/99 publication included an exploit tool? Maybe we need to have an exploit coding group at NTBugtraq that produces a tool for everything reported and distributes said tool to all and sunder? Cheers, Russ - NTBugtraq Editor