REVISED: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-013: Buffer Overrun in Windows Kernel Message Handling could Lead to Elevated Privileges (811493)

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Title:      Buffer Overrun in Windows Kernel Message Handling could 
            Lead to Elevated Privileges (811493)
Released:   16 April 2003
Revised:    28 May 2003 (version 2.0)
Software:   Microsoft(r) Windows NT(r) 4.0, Windows(r) 2000 and 
Windows(r) XP
Impact:     Local Elevation of Privilege
Max Risk:   Important 

Bulletin:   MS03-013

Microsoft encourages customers to review the Security Bulletin at: 
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-013.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-013.asp
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Reason for Revision:
====================
Microsoft re-issued this bulletin on May 28, 2003 to advise on the 
availability of an updated Windows XP Service Pack 1 patch. This 
revised patch corrects the performance issues that some customers 
experienced with the original Windows XP Service Pack 1 patch. 

Microsoft originally issued this bulletin on April 16, 2003. 
Subsequent to that date, Microsoft has received reports of 
performance problems with the patch from some Windows XP customers. 
Microsoft has investigated this issue and confirmed that there can 
be performance problems when the patch is applied to Windows XP 
Service Pack 1 systems. Microsoft is actively working on a revised 
patch for Windows XP Service Pack 1 and will re-issue that patch 
when it has been completed and fully tested. The existing Windows 
XP SP1 patch does address the security vulnerability discussed in 
this security bulletin. 

Windows XP Service Pack 1 customers are encouraged to review this 
security bulletin - and in particular the Severity Rating matrix 
and assessment below - to assess whether their particular 
environments demand that the patch should be applied immediately or 
whether their particular level of risk permits delaying deployment 
of the patch until it is revised and the performance problem 
corrected. If your environment demands that the patch is installed 
before it is revised and the performance problem corrected, it is 
recommended that you test thoroughly to ascertain if your 
particular environment is affected by the performance issue. 
Microsoft has published a Knowledge Base article, 819634, that 
describes the known circumstances that can cause the performance 
problems to manifest themselves, and what affected users can do to 
reduce the impact of the problem. The Windows kernel is the core of 
the operating system. It provides system level services such as 
device and memory management, allocates processor time to processes 
and manages error handling.

Issue:
======
There is a flaw in the way the kernel passes error messages to a 
debugger. A vulnerability results because an attacker could write a 
program to exploit this flaw and run code of their choice. An 
attacker could exploit this vulnerability to take any action on the 
system including deleting data, adding accounts with administrative 
access, or reconfiguring the system. 

For an attack to be successful, an attacker would need to be able 
to logon interactively to the system, either at the console or 
through a terminal session. Also, a successful attack would require 
the introduction of code in order to exploit this vulnerability. 
Because best practices recommends restricting the ability to logon 
interactively on servers, this issue most directly affects client 
systems and terminal servers.
Mitigating Factors:

====================
- -A successful attack requires the ability to logon interactively to 
the target machine, either directly at the console or through a 
terminal session. 
- -Properly secured servers would be at little risk from this 
vulnerability. Standard best practices recommend only allowing 
trusted administrators to log onto such systems interactively; 
without such privileges, an attacker could not exploit the 
vulnerability.

Risk Rating:
============
 - Important 

Patch Availability:
===================
 - A patch is available to fix this vulnerability. Please read the 
   Security Bulletins at
   http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms03-013.asp
   http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-013.asp
   for information on obtaining this patch.

Acknowledgment:
===============
 -  Oded Horovitz of Entercept(tm) Security Technologies - 
http://www.entercept.com/

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