Intel relaxed over email security

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/14231.html

By: Andrew Thomas
Posted: 25/10/2000 at 15:11 GMT

Intel's dinky little eMail Station, part of the InBusiness range it
inherited from Dayna, turns out to be susceptible to simple denial of
service attacks, but the chip behemoth doesn't seem to care a Hell of
a lot.

The eMail Station has a 2GB hard disk and a NatSemi(!) 486 CPU and is
aimed at small businesses wanting to support multiple email users
using a single ISP account.

The computer security mailing list Bugtraq lists a potential
vulnerability whereby the email Station can be locked up and will need
to be powered off and on again to resume operation. As the device is
designed to be controlled via a web browser, it will usually be
located in a cupboard, under the stairs or even in a different
building from its operator - places which will cause maximum
inconvenience should a hardware reset become necessary.

The problem can be simply invoked by causing a buffer overflow (we
have the details of how to replicate it, but in a rare attack of
responsibility have decided to keep it to ourselves).

It is, however, Intel's response to the vulnerability that gives cause
for concern.

The user discovering the problem was told that he was "using it in a
way it's not supposed to be used".

As the user commented to The Reg: "It wouldn't surprise me if the
problem could be addressed with a simple software patch, but the
response given by Intel really shocked me."


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