Unplug & Pray
"eEye has discovered three vulnerabilities within Microsoft's UPnP implementation: a remotely exploitable buffer overflow that allows an attacker gain SYSTEM level access to any default installation of Windows XP, a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, and a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. eEye would like to stress the extreme seriousness of this vulnerability. Network administrators are urged to immediately install the patch released by Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...n/MS01-059.asp"
"The most serious of the three Windows XP vulnerabilities is the remotely exploitable buffer overflow. It is possible for an attacker to write custom exploit code that will allow them to execute commands with SYSTEM level access, the highest level of access within Windows XP."
"The other two vulnerabilities are types of denial of service attacks. The first is a fairly straightforward denial of service attack, which allows an attacker to remotely crash any Windows XP system. The crash will require Windows XP users to physically power down their machines and start them up again before the system will function. The second denial of service attack is a distributed denial of service attack. This vulnerability allows attackers to remotely command many Windows XP systems at once in an effort to make them flood/attack a single host."
Translating eEye's and Microsoft's statements into consequences, this means that without the security update patch, and with the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) system in its default "enabled" state, any of the many millions of Internet-connected UPnP-equipped Windows systems could be remotely commandeered and forced to download and run any malicious code of a hacker's design. This includes using the machine to launch potent Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
This means that extremely damaging CodeRed and Nimda-style worms can now be written for millions of Windows machines. Whereas the Microsoft IIS server worms of 2001 found and infested 'only' several hundred thousand IIS servers, a Windows "Universal Plug and Play" worm would have more than ten million XP systems, in addition to many more Windows 98/ME systems, upon which to prey today.
GRC|UnPlug n' Pray - Disable the Dangerous UPnP Internet Server
"The most serious of the three Windows XP vulnerabilities is the remotely exploitable buffer overflow. It is possible for an attacker to write custom exploit code that will allow them to execute commands with SYSTEM level access, the highest level of access within Windows XP."
"The other two vulnerabilities are types of denial of service attacks. The first is a fairly straightforward denial of service attack, which allows an attacker to remotely crash any Windows XP system. The crash will require Windows XP users to physically power down their machines and start them up again before the system will function. The second denial of service attack is a distributed denial of service attack. This vulnerability allows attackers to remotely command many Windows XP systems at once in an effort to make them flood/attack a single host."
Translating eEye's and Microsoft's statements into consequences, this means that without the security update patch, and with the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) system in its default "enabled" state, any of the many millions of Internet-connected UPnP-equipped Windows systems could be remotely commandeered and forced to download and run any malicious code of a hacker's design. This includes using the machine to launch potent Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
This means that extremely damaging CodeRed and Nimda-style worms can now be written for millions of Windows machines. Whereas the Microsoft IIS server worms of 2001 found and infested 'only' several hundred thousand IIS servers, a Windows "Universal Plug and Play" worm would have more than ten million XP systems, in addition to many more Windows 98/ME systems, upon which to prey today.
GRC|UnPlug n' Pray - Disable the Dangerous UPnP Internet Server
Linear Mode
