Overview
Microsoft Exchange servers that offer the Outlook Web Access service are vulnerable to an information disclosure vulnerability that can reveal any email address stored in the Global Address List.
Description
The Outlook Web Access (OWA) component of Microsoft Exchange allows users to access their email with a web browser, obviating the need for a standalone email client. This functionality is implemented with several ASP scripts that allow users to perform typical tasks such as reading, composing, and managing mail messsages. Most of these functions require users to authenticate to the application, thereby protecting the content of the messages. However, the ASP script used by OWA to search the Global Address List (GAL) does not require authentication, which presents an information disclosure vulnerability. By writing custom ASP scripts that bypass the authenticated components of OWA, it is possible for an attacker to learn any email address stored within the GAL. |
Impact
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to perform unauthenticated searches on sensitive contact information. For example, an attacker could obtain a user's email address by searching on their name. |
Solution
Apply a patch from your vendor Microsoft has released a patch to address this vulnerability; For more information, please consult the vendor information section below. |
Disable Outlook Web Access
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Vendor Information
CVSS Metrics
| Group | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|
| Base | ||
| Temporal | ||
| Environmental |
References
Acknowledgements
The CERT/CC thanks Joseph Steinberg of Whale Communications for reporting this vulnerability.
This document was written by Jeffrey P. Lanza.
Other Information
| CVE IDs: | CVE-2001-0660 |
| Severity Metric: | 6.62 |
| Date Public: | 2001-09-06 |
| Date First Published: | 2001-09-12 |
| Date Last Updated: | 2001-09-12 15:57 UTC |
| Document Revision: | 10 |