Vulnerability Note VU#394792

Microsoft Windows SMTP component vulnerable to remote code execution

Overview

A vulnerability in the mail handling service in some versions of Microsoft Windows could allow a remote attacker to compromise the affected system.

I. Description

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the most common protocol for the delivery of electronic mail between systems on the Internet. Some versions of Microsoft Windows support the ability to act as an SMTP server. The ability to interact with the Domain Name System (DNS) is critical for an SMTP server to deliver mail to a remote user (e.g., user@example.com). A buffer management flaw exists in the way that the SMTP service handles DNS responses. A remote attacker with the ability to craft DNS response messages could exploit this vulnerability to compromise the affected system.

II. Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with administrative privileges on an affected system.

III. Solution

Apply a patch from the vendor

Microsoft has published Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-035 in response to this issue. Users are strongly encouraged to review this bulletin and apply the patches it refers to.

Workarounds

In addition to the patches referenced above, Microsoft has published workarounds for this issue. Users who are unable to apply the patches are strongly encouraged to implement these workarounds as appropriate.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Microsoft Corporation	Vulnerable	13-Oct-2004

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-035.mspx
http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2004/Oct/1011636.html

Credit

Thanks to Microsoft Security for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Chad R Dougherty based on information provided by Microsoft.

Other Information

Date Public:	2004-10-12
Date First Published:	2004-10-13
Date Last Updated:	2004-11-29
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2004-0840
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2004-0840
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	23.94
Document Revision:	9

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