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The U.S. Department of Energy
Computer Incident Advisory Center
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INFORMATION BULLETIN
Microsoft Authentication Error in SMTP Service
[Microsoft Security Bulletin MS01-037]
July 6, 2001 21:00 GMT Number L-107
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PROBLEM: An SMTP service installs by default as part of Windows 2000
server products, and can be selected for installation on
Windows 2000 Professional. A vulnerability results because of a
flaw in the authentication process used by the service.
PLATFORM: Microsoft Windows 2000
DAMAGE: The vulnerability could allow an unauthorized user to
successfully authenticate to the service using incorrect
credentials. The unauthorized user could gain user-level
privileges on the SMTP service.
SOLUTION: Apply the patch provided by Microsoft.
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VULNERABILITY The risk is LOW. The most likely purpose in exploiting the
ASSESSMENT: vulnerability would be to perform mail relaying via the server.
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[****** Start Microsoft Security Bulletin ******]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Authentication Error in SMTP Service Could Allow Mail
Relaying
Date: 05 July, 2001
Software: Windows 2000
Impact: Mail Relaying
Bulletin: MS01-037
Microsoft encourages customers to review the Security Bulletin at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-037.asp.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issue:
======
An SMTP service installs by default as part of Windows 2000 server
products, and can be selected for installation on Windows 2000
Professional. A vulnerability results because of a flaw in the
authentication process used by the service. The vulnerability could
allow an unauthorized user to successfully authenticate to the
service using incorrect credentials. An attacker who exploited
the vulnerability could gain user-level privileges on the SMTP
service, thereby enabling the attacker to use the service but
not to administer it. The most likely purpose in exploiting the
vulnerability would be to perform mail relaying via the server.
Mitigating Factors:
====================
- Exchange servers -- even when run on Windows 2000 --
are not affected by this vulnerability.
- Best practices recommend disabling unneeded services.
If the SMTP service has been disabled, the
vulnerability could not be exploited.
- The vulnerability only affects stand-alone machines,
not domain members.
- Proper firewalling could prevent Internet-based attacks
by blocking port 25 on servers that do not specifically
need to accept SMTP traffic.
Patch Availability:
===================
- A patch is available to fix this vulnerability. Please read
the Security Bulletin
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms01-037.asp
for information on obtaining this patch.
Acknowledgment:
===============
- Joao Gouveia (tharbad@kaotik.org)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[****** End Microsoft Security Bulletin ******]
_______________________________________________________________________________
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
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Credits
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