Microsoft Security Advisory (954462) - Rise in SQL Injection Attacks Exploiting Unverified User Data Input

A timely advisory from Microsoft on SQL Injection attacks plus some tools to help secure your setup are available on KB954462 with more information here and ISC's commentary here.

Of particular interest is the free Scrawlr tool available from HP. That could be a useful way to see if your server is vulnerable before the bad guys find it,

MS07-039 clarification

Yesterday was Patch Tuesday, and amongst the usual load of vulnerabilities was MS07-039 - Vulnerability in Windows Active Directory Could Allow Remote Code Execution (926122) - however in this case Microsoft are a little vague about exactly which servers are impacted, referring only to "Active Directory Servers".

Well, what are Active Directory Servers? If you're running an AD environment then all servers are members servers of Active Directory. Does these mean that all servers needs patching, or is it restricted to Domain Controller (DC) and Global Catalog (GC) servers only? Patching DCs and GCs isn't too big a deal.. patching all servers for MS07-039 would be a nightmare.

One the clue is in Knowledgebase article 926122 which explains that this really is limited to servers performing the DC/GC role:

A hotfix was created to work around a problem in which the domain controller has to be restarted to let users renew their certificates. However, this hotfix let any user renew a certificate. This security update includes a hotfix to modify this behavior. After you install this security update, authentication is required for certificate renewal.

After you install this security update, only domain administrators and network administrators can renew certificates. Also, an administrator cannot delegate the right to renew certificates.

For such a critical vulnerability, Microsoft's wording is particularly vague. It does seem that it doesn't apply to member servers, but just to Domain Controllers (including Global Catalog servers, FSMO servers etc). These are critical servers, so you should patch them soon before the bad guys get to them.

Patch Tuesday

A number of nasty looking vulnerabilities. These are my takes on the seriousness of these flaws, you should evaluate them against your own organisation.


MS07-026 Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution (931832)
A series of flaws in Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007, the most serious of which is a MIME decoding flaw which can allow a remote attacker to take complete control of the system through a specially crafted email message. This is an extremely serious problem because most corporate firewalls will not offer any protection against messages of this type. There are no known current exploits, but these usually come about very quickly after the vulnerability is announced.
Client impact: low
Server impact: high


MS07-029 Vulnerability in Windows DNS RPC Interface Could Allow Remote Code Execution (935966)
A critical flaw in the DNS server service can allow a remote attacker to take complete control of a system. This is clearly a significant threat to any servers running the DNS service role and will patching as soon as possible. This is being actively exploited at the moment. Corporate firewalls will mitigate against this somewhat, until an infected machine enters your network.
Client impact: low
Server impact: high


MS07-023 Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (934233)
A depressingly familiar flaw in MS Office impacting Excel 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007 and even Excel 2004 for the Mac. WSUS or some other patching method should be used to roll these out to client workstations. Safe server practices should mean that this is not so important for corporate servers.
Client impact: high
Server impact: low

MS07-024 Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (934232)
Another Office flaw, this time for Word 2000, 2002 and 2003 plus Microsoft Works 2004, 2005 and 2006 - but not Word 2007. This is being actively exploited and should be authorised for rollout as soon as possible.. Office 2000 installations will require manual remediation.
Client impact: high
Server impact: low

MS07-025 Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (934873)
A vulnerability in the way Office handles drawing objects can be exploited by a specially crafted Office document (e.g. attached to an email) or an object embedded in a web site. This affects Office 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007 and also Office 2004 for the Mac - primarily the Excel, Publisher and FrontPage components. It also impacts Excel Viewer 2003. This should be authorised for rollout to clients as soon as possible. Office 2000 will require manual remediation.
Client impact: high
Server impact: low

MS07-027 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (931768)
Various flaws in IE6 and IE7 on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. Safe practice on servers should mitigate against this (i.e. restrict use of IE to Windows Update only). Some of these flaws are being actively exploited, so patch as soon as possible.
Client impact: high
Server impact: low

MS07-028 Vulnerability in CAPICOM Could Allow Remote Code Execution (931906)
Well, obviously high if you use this product, else few people will be at risk.
Client impact: low
Server impact: low

"The system is not fully installed": Windows XP, WMP 11 and Sysprep

Kudos to lizardking009 for this post at the 2cpu.com forums.

After using Sysprep to prepare a new Windows XP build for distribution to some Dell laptops, I got the a message saying The system is not fully installed when trying to restart the machine.

It turns out that this is due to the presence of Windows Media Player 11 which screws up the Sysprep process somehow. I can't say that I'm a big fan of this DRM-laded stuff, but generally speaking you always load the latest version of everything before resealing the machine to take an image from it.

Microsoft have this knowledgebase article showing how to recover from the problem, although I discovered that this does not work very well on machines that have already been built from a Sysprep (such as Dells). If you're working in a reasonably well equipped environment with another XP machine and a suitable external USB drive enclosure then it's probably easier to edit the registry on the affected PC's hard disk by plugging it into the USB port of another machine, i.e.:

• Load REGEDIT
• Select HKEY_USERS
• Go into File.. Load Hive..
• Browse to the \WINDOWS\System32\Config\System file on the USB connected drive
  
• Name the hive "system" or whatever you like
• Find the Setup key on the newly loaded hive and locate SystemSetupInProgress.
• Change the data from 1 to 0.
• Unload the Hive

Then, once the hard disk is reinserted into the original machine, bring it up in Safe Mode, deinstall Windows Media Player 11 and reboot. This should start the setup process (you can choose to take an image at this point, if you wish).