DHS --> MS RPC

["Bruhn, Mark S." <mbruhn () INDIANA EDU>]

Below, from DHS (received moments ago).
M.

-- 
Mark S. Bruhn, CISSP

Chief IT Security and Policy Officer
Interim Director, Research and Educational Networking Information
Sharing and Analysis Center (ren-isac () iu edu)

Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and CIO
Indiana University
812-855-0326

Incidents involving IU IT resources: it-incident () iu edu
Complaints/kudos about OVPIT/UITS services: itombuds () iu edu





 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 

SYSTEMS AFFECTED:   Computers using the following operating systems:
        Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 
        Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Services Edition 
        Microsoft Windows 2000 
        Microsoft Windows XP 
        Microsoft Windows Server 2003 

OVERVIEW
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Information Analysis and
Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) National Cyber Security Division (NCSD)
is issuing this advisory in consultation with the Microsoft Corporation
to heighten awareness of potential Internet disruptions resulting from
the possible spread of malicious software exploiting a vulnerability in
popular Microsoft Windows operating systems.

DHS expects that exploits are being developed for malicious use.  Two
additional factors are causing heightened interest in this situation:
the affected operating systems are in wide spread use, and exploitation
of the vulnerability could permit the execution of arbitrary code.  DHS
and Microsoft are concerned that a properly written exploit could
rapidly spread on the Internet as a worm or virus in a fashion similar
to Code Red or Slammer.

IMPACT
The recently announced Remote Procedure Call (RPC) vulnerability in
computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems listed above could
be exploited to allow the execution of arbitrary code or could cause a
denial of service state in an unprotected computer.  Because of the
significant percentage of Internet-connected computers running Windows
operating systems and using high speed connections (DSL or cable for
example), the potential exists for a worm or virus to propagate rapidly
across the Internet carrying payloads that might exploit other known
vulnerabilities in switching devices, routers, or servers.

DETAILS
There is a vulnerability in the part of RPC that deals with message
exchange over TCP/IP. The vulnerability results from the handling of
malformed messages. This particular vulnerability affects a Distributed
Component Object Model (DCOM) interface with RPC, which listens on RPC
enabled ports. This interface handles DCOM object activation requests
that are sent by client machines (such as Universal Naming Convention
(UNC) paths) to the server. An attacker who successfully exploited this
vulnerability would be able to run code with local system privileges on
an affected system. The attacker would be able to take any action on the
system, including installing programs, viewing changing or deleting
data, or creating new accounts with full privileges.
 
RECOMMENDATION
Due to the seriousness of the RPC vulnerability, DHS and Microsoft
encourage system administrators and computer owners to take this
opportunity to update vulnerable versions of Microsoft Windows operating
systems as soon as possible.  Microsoft updates, workarounds, and
additional information are available at
<http://microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security
/bulletin/MS03-026.asp>

DHS and Microsoft further suggest that Internet Service Providers and
network administrators consider blocking TCP and UDP ports 135, 139, and
445 for inbound connections unless absolutely needed for business or
operational purposes.  

Advisories recommend the immediate implementation of protective actions,
including best practices when available.  DHS encourages recipients of
this advisory to report information concerning suspicious or criminal
activity to law enforcement or a DHS watch office.  The DHS Information
Analysis and Infrastructure Protection watch offices may be contacted
at:

For private citizens and companies -    Phone: (202) 323-3205,
1-888-585-9078
                                                Email:
nipc.watch () fbi gov <mailto:nipc.watch () fbi gov> 
                                Online:
<http://www.nipc.gov/incident/cirr.htm> 
For telecommunications industry -     Phone:  (703) 607-4950 
                                                Email:  ncs () dhs gov
<mailto:ncs () ncs gov>
For Federal agencies/departments -      Phone: (888) 282-0870
                                                Email:
fedcirc () fedcirc gov <mailto:fedcirc-info () fedcirc gov> 
                                                Online:
<https://incidentreport.fedcirc.gov> 

DHS intends to update this alert should it receive additional relevant
information, including information provided to it by the user community.
Based on this notification, no change to the Homeland Security Advisory
System level (HSAS) is anticipated; the current HSAS level is YELLOW.



**********
Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Discussion Group discussion list can be found at 
http://www.educause.edu/memdir/cg/.