J-054: Unauthorized Access to IIS Servers through ODBC Data Access with RDS

PROBLEM:       This vulnerability has been used to gain unauthorized access 
               to Internet-connected systems.  

               This vulnerability was first announced in MS98-004 on July 19, 
               1998.  MS98-004 was then re-released as MS99-025 on July 19, 
               1999, and followed by a correction on July 20, 1999.
PLATFORM:      Systems that have Microsoft(r) Internet Information Server 
               3.0 or 4.0 and Microsoft Data Access Components 1.5.
DAMAGE:        An unauthorized web user may be able to perform privileged 
               actions.
SOLUTION:      The solution depends upon your particular situation.  Consult
               the "Summary" section of MS99-025 and its correction for 
               the details.
VULNERABILITY  Risk is high.  This vulnerability is being actively exploited.
ASSESSMENT:    Patch your systems as soon as possible.


[  Start Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-025)  ]


                    ********************************

Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-025)
--------------------------------------

Re-Release: Unauthorized Access to IIS Servers through ODBC Data Access with
RDS

Originally Released as MS98-004, July 17, 1998
Re-Released as MS99-025, July 19, 1999

Preface
=======
This bulletin is a re-release of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS98-004,
issued July 17, 1998. It  has recently been brought to our attention that
this vulnerability has been used to gain  unauthorized access to
Internet-connected systems that have not been updated as per the
instructions in MS98-004. The intent of re-releasing this bulletin is to
serve as a reminder  about this vulnerability, to restate the threat, and
encourage system administrators to evaluate  their systems to determine if
their systems have been correctly configured and updated to protect  against
this vulnerability.

Summary
=======
Microsoft encourages the following actions be taken on systems that have
Microsoft(r) Internet  Information Server 3.0 or 4.0 and Microsoft Data
Access Components 1.5, both of which are  installed during a default
installation of the Windows NT(r) 4.0 Option pack:
 - Install the latest version of MDAC (currently MDAC 2.1 SP2).

However, simply upgrading from MDAC 1.5 to MDAC 2.0, or MDAC 2.1 is not
sufficient. For systems  not explicitly utilizing RDS functionality, you
should also:
 - Delete the /msdac virtual directory from the default Web site, or
 - Apply registry settings that disable the DataFactory object. (See
   the Q&A for the registry settings to adjust, or to download a .REG
   file that can make the changes for you.)

For systems implicitly utilizing RDS functionality, you should:
 - Disable Anonymous Access for the /msadc directory in the default
   Web site, and/or
 - Create a Custom Handler to control or filter incoming requests.
   (http://www.microsoft.com/Data/ado/rds/custhand.htm)

If you do not complete these steps, unauthorized access as described below
may still be possible.

Frequently asked questions regarding this vulnerability and updating
systems to protect against it can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/MS99-025faq.asp

Issue
=====
The RDS DataFactory object, a component of Microsoft Data Access Components
(MDAC), exposes  unsafe methods. When installed on a system running Internet
Information Server 3.0 or 4.0, the  DataFactory object may permit an
otherwise unauthorized web user to perform privileged actions,  including:
 - Allowing unauthorized users to execute shell commands on the
   IIS system as a privileged user.
 - On a multi-homed Internet-connected IIS system, using MDAC to
   tunnel SQL and other ODBC data requests through the public connection
   to a private back-end network.
 - Allowing unauthorized accessing to secured, non-published files on
   the IIS system.

Affected Software Versions
==========================
 - Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0 or 4.0 that have or
   have had Microsoft Data Access Components 1.5 installed on it.

NOTE: IIS can be installed as part of other Microsoft products like
Microsoft BackOffice and  Microsoft Site Server.

NOTE: MDAC 1.5 is installed during a default installation of the Windows NT
4.0 Option Pack.

Patch Availability
==================
Newer versions of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC versions 2.0 and
2.1) resolve these  known vulnerabilities. However, a system that had MDAC
1.5 installed on it, and then upgraded to  MDAC 2.0 or MDAC 2.1 must still
take actions to disable the DataFactory object. (See the Q&A for  the
registry settings to adjust, or to download a .REG file that can make the
changes for you.)

Current versions of Microsoft Data Access Components can be downloaded from
the following web  site:
 - Microsoft Data Access Download Site
   (http://www.microsoft.com/data/download.htm)

More Information
================
Please see the following references for more information related to this
issue.
 - Microsoft Security Bulletin MS99-025: Frequently Asked Questions,
   http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/MS99-025faq.asp
 - Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article Q184375,
   Security Implications of RDS 1.5, IIS, and ODBC,
   http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q184/3/75.asp
 - Microsoft Universal Data Access Download Page,
   http://www.microsoft.com/data/download.htm
 - Installing MDAC Q&A,
   http://www.microsoft.com/data/MDAC21info/MDACinstQ.htm
 - Microsoft Security Advisor web site,
   http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.asp
 - IIS Security Checklist,
   http://www.microsoft.com/security/products/iis/CheckList.asp

Obtaining Support on this Issue
===============================
Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) is a fully supported set of
technologies. 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.

Acknowledgments
===============
Microsoft acknowledges Greg Gonzalez of ITE (http://www.infotechent.net) for
bringing additional  information regarding this vulnerability to our
attention. Microsoft also acknowledges Russ  Cooper (NTBugTraq) for his
assistance around this issue.

Revisions
=========
 - July 19, 1999: Bulletin Created as re-release of MS98-004.

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FOREGOING  LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

(c) 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.

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[  End Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-025) (Correction follows)  ]


[  Start of correction to Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-025)  ]

                    ********************************

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS99-025
(http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/MS99-025.asp), which was
released on July 19, 1999, discussed a vulnerability associated with
Internet Information Server and Microsoft Data Access Components.  The
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for this bulletin
(http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/MS99-025faq.asp) provided
instructions on how to manually change the registry in order to protect
vulnerable systems, and also provided an automated method for making the
changes.  However, we have discovered that the automated method is
incorrect.

If you manually changed the registry entries as discussed in the bulletin,
you do not need to take any further action.  All of the information in the
bulletin and FAQ regarding registry keys is correct.  However, if you
downloaded HANDUNSF.REG and used it to automatically change the registry,
you should download the corrected file and run it on all affected systems.
The corrected file is named HANDSAFE.REG, in order to make it easy to tell
that you are using the right file.  The file can be downloaded from the FAQ
page; the link to the file is contained in the answer to "I have MDAC 2.x
installed, what should I do?".

Even if you are not affected by this error, we recommend that you review the
FAQ page again.  We have made a number of changes to the original version of
the FAQ, in order to provide a clearer description of the security
vulnerability and the steps that customers should take.

We regret the error and any inconvenience that it has caused.  We are taking
steps to ensure that the problem will not happen again.  Sincerely,

The Microsoft Product Security Team

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[  End of correction to Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-025)  ]

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