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Re: Microsoft win2003server phone home

From: "martin scherer" <memoxyde () monet no>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 13:15:26 +0200
My question:
1. Is  this behavior normal for a windows server installation ?


for microsoft? yes.
this behavior can also be seen while installing XP Professional (only one i
tested),
while using netcap or similar programs to sniff packets going in/out of the
network.


2.  Could this behavior be considered as a violation of privacy ?

depends on what kind of information is being sent...sounds to me like it's
just checking for activex controllers and codecs, and if there are any
updates..unless there is some evil server behind the fake host, retrieving
all your sensitive information...both could be ;)


3.  Could it be considered as a security risk to let a newly installed

server,

request information from an arbitrary server that I have no control over ?

security in the way that your server might end up getting exploited because
of it?
no, i dont think so..
security in a way that you might get caught using an illegal copy of a
win2003 server?
yup.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "gyrniff" <b240503 () gyrniff dk>
To: <full-disclosure () lists netsys com>
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 11:57 AM
Subject: [Full-disclosure] Microsoft win2003server phone home



After acquiring and installing a copy of 'Windows Server 2003 Standard

Edition

180-Day Evaluation' I walked through the 'role wizard',  used the 'custom
role config' and selected everything ;-)
After reboot the server made two POST request to microsoft controlled
webserveres without any notification. One request to activex.micrisoft.com
and one to codecs.microsoft.com, the data posted to the two severs was the
same. (See the request and responds below.)

I can find no information in the license agreement about giving away
'information' behind my back.

My question:
1. Is  this behavior normal for a windows server installation ?
2.  Could this behavior be considered as a violation of privacy ?
3.  Could it be considered as a security risk to let a newly installed

server,

request information from an arbitrary server that I have no control over ?

****

Posted data to activex.microsoft.com:
POST /objects/ocget.dll HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/x-cabinet-win32-x86, application/x-pe-win32-x86,
application/octet-stream, application/x-setupscript, */*
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Accept-Language: da
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.2; .NET CLR
1.1.4322)
Host: activex.microsoft.com
Content-Length: 44
Connection: Keep-Alive
Cache-Control: no-cache

CLSID={FC7D9E02-3F9E-11D3-93C0-00C04F72DAF7}

The reply:
HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found
Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 09:48:38 GMT
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 102

<html><head><title>Error</title></head><body>The system cannot find the

file

specified. </body></html>

***

Postede data to codecs.microsoft.com
POST /isapi/ocget.dll HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/x-cabinet-win32-x86, application/x-pe-win32-x86,
application/octet-stream, application/x-setupscript, */*
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Accept-Language: da
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.2; .NET CLR
1.1.4322)
Host: codecs.microsoft.com
Content-Length: 44
Connection: Keep-Alive
Cache-Control: no-cache

CLSID={FC7D9E02-3F9E-11D3-93C0-00C04F72DAF7}

And the reply:
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Connection: close
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 09:47:54 GMT
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
P3P: policyref="http://www.microsoft.com/w3c/p3p.xml"; CP="ALL IND DSP COR

ADM

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PRE

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X-Powered-By: ASP.NET


/Gyrniff

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