April 2004 - Posts
Alert !!!
- Microsoft is aware of code available on the Internet that seeks to exploit vulnerabilities addressed as part of our April 13th security updates. We are investigating the situation to help protect our customers. Specifically, the reports detail exploit code that attempts to use the IIS PCT/SSL vulnerability on servers running Internet Information Services with the Secure Socket Layer authentication enabled. This vulnerability is addressed by bulletin MS04-011. Customers who have deployed MS04-011 are not at risk from this exploit code.
- Microsoft considers these reports credible and serious and continues to urge all customers to immediately install the MS4-011 update as well as the other critical updates provided on April 13th.
- Customers who are still evaluating and testing MS04-011 should immediately implement the workaround steps detailed for the PCT/SSL vulnerability detailed in the MS04-011. In addition, Microsoft has published a knowledge base article KB187498 at http://support.microsoft.com/?id=187498 which provides additional details on SSL and how to disable PCT without applying MS04-011.
- We expect to see additional exploits and proof-of-concept code targeting the April 2004 security bulletin release in coming days and weeks, potentially including worm or virus examples.
If you have any questions regarding the security updates or its implementation after reading the above listed bulletin you should contact Product Support Services in the United States at 1-866-PCSafety (1-866-727-2338). International customers should contact their local subsidiary.
Thank you,
Microsoft PSS Security Team
Great news! Last week, Eweek announced IIS 6.0 in Windows Server 2003 as this year e-business foundations category winners! Beating both WebLogic (BEA) and Java Enterprise System (SUN).
From the quote:
Our judges were impressed by Windows Server 2003's improved security features. Chief among those was the move to the all-new IIS (Internet Information Services) 6.0 Web server, which is faster, more reliable and more secure than the previous version of IIS. What's more, IIS 6.0 is not installed by default in Windows Server 2003, which reduces unnecessary exposure.
In addition, IIS 6.0 is better suited than its predecessor as a development platform target. Along similar lines, our judges valued the integration of the .Net Framework in the product and lauded the operating system's expanded Web services capabilities.
Full Eweek article.
Published March 2004.
832981 Users cannot access Web sites when the security event log is full
838306 IIS 6.0 may stop responding when you use Microsoft Access from your Web applications
832139 FIX: IIS 6.0 serves stale content if your Web site has both an IP address and host headers set
832911 FIX: Users sometimes receive an "HTTP 401.3 unauthorized due to access control list (ACL) on resource" error message when they visit your Web site
826756 FIX: The Response.BinaryWrite method fails when you use it to send files that are larger than 20 MB
Tips and Tricks for Optimizing Performance in IIS 6.0 (Level 300)
This session discusses how you can ensure that your server running Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 performs at its maximum capacity. Topics include network latency; efficient coding practices; and methods to ensure that IIS 6.0 serves content the right way, at the right time—the first time.
IIS 6.0: Troubleshooting and Lessons Learned in the First Year
Find out how IIS 6.0 has measured up to customer expectations since its release in April 2003. This session discusses what has been learned since the release and which areas are likely candidates for future work.
Read -
Microsoft Progress Report: Security (by Bill Gates)
I like this comment by Micheal Howard.
“There's one figure not in Bill's email, and that is the number of security bulletins issued against IIS6. So here's a pop-quiz, we're nearly at the one-year anniversary of the release of Windows Server 2003 and IIS6, how many security bulletins have been issued for IIS6? Zero. I'm not saying there are no security defects in IIS6, I have no doubt there are. But I like zero! I like zero a lot!“
IIS 6 rocks solid ! :)