Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 14:44:48 -0800 (PST)
From: CIAC Mail User <ciac@rumpole.llnl.gov>
To: ciac-bulletin@rumpole.llnl.gov
Subject: CIAC Bulletin J-030: Microsoft BackOffice Vulnerability 

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             __________________________________________________________

                       The U.S. Department of Energy
                    Computer Incident Advisory Capability
                           ___  __ __    _     ___
                          /       |     /_\   /
                          \___  __|__  /   \  \___
             __________________________________________________________

                             INFORMATION BULLETIN

                       Microsoft BackOffice Vulnerability

February 16, 1999 19:00 GMT                                       Number J-030
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:       Microsoft has identified a vulnerability in the installer for 
               BackOffice Server (R) 4.0. 
PLATFORM:      Microsoft BackOffice Server 4.0 
DAMAGE:        Users who can log into the server locally would be able to 
               access name and password for the accounts associated with the 
               services which are part of a BackOffice 4.0 installation. 
SOLUTION:      The fix for this problem is to delete the file \Program 
               Files\Microsoft Backoffice\Reboot.ini after each BackOffice 4.0 
               installation, whether successful or not. 
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY  Risk is low. In most cases, the ability to access this file 
ASSESSMENT:    would be granted to selected users such as administrators. 
______________________________________________________________________________

[  Start Microsoft Advisory  ]


Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-005)
- --------------------------------------

BackOffice Server 4.0 Does Not Delete Installation Setup File

Originally Posted: February 12, 1999

Summary
=======
Microsoft (R) has learned of a potential vulnerability in the installer for
BackOffice Server (R) 4.0. The installer asks the user to provide the
account userid and password for selected services and writes these to a file
in order to automate the installation process. However, the file is not
deleted when the installation process completes. As detailed below,
Microsoft recommends that BackOffice 4.0 customers delete this file.

Microsoft has received no reports of customers being adversely affected by
this problem. However, it is releasing this security bulletin in order to
proactively provide customers with information about the problem in order to
allow them to take steps to ensure their safe computing.

Issue
=====
When a user chooses to install SQL Server (R), Exchange Server (R) or
Microsoft Transaction Server (R) as part of a BackOffice 4.0 installation,
the BackOffice installer program requests the name and password for the
accounts associated with these services. Specifically, it asks for the
account name and password for the SQL Executive Logon account, the Exchange
Services Account, and the MTS Remote Administration Account. These values
are stored in <systemdrive>\Program Files\Microsoft Backoffice\Reboot.ini,
and used to install the associated services.

BackOffice Server does not erase this file when the installation process is
completed. This is true regardless of whether the installation process
completes successfully or unsuccessfully. By default, the Microsoft
BackOffice folder is not shared, so network access to reboot.ini generally
does not pose a risk. Users who can log onto the server locally would be
able to access the file, but in most cases this ability is granted only to
selected users such as administrators.

The fix for this problem is to delete the file <systemdrive>\Program
Files\Microsoft Backoffice\Reboot.ini after each BackOffice 4.0
installation, whether successful or not. The file is created only by the
installer, and, once deleted, will not be re-created unless BackOffice 4.0
is re-installed.

Affected Software Versions
==========================
The following software versions are affected:
 - Microsoft BackOffice Server 4.0

What Microsoft is Doing
=======================
On February 12th, Microsoft sent this security
bulletin to customers subscribing to the Microsoft
Product Security Notification Service
(see http://www.microsoft.com/security/services/bulletin.asp
for more information about this free customer service).

Microsoft has published the following Knowledge Base (KB) article on this
issue:
 - Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article Q217004,
   BackOffice Installer Tool Does Not Delete Password Cache File.
   http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q217/0/04.asp
   (Note: It might take 24 hours from the original posting of this
   bulletin for the KB article to be visible in the Web-based
   Knowledge Base.)

What customers Should Do
========================
Microsoft recommends that customers ensure that they delete the file
<systemdrive>\Program Files\Microsoft Backoffice\Reboot.ini after the
installation program for BackOffice 4.0 completes

More Information
================
Please see the following references for more information related to this
issue.
 - Microsoft Security Bulletin MS99-005,
   BackOffice 4.0 Does Not Delete Installation Setup File
   (the Web-posted version of this bulletin),
   http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms99-005.asp.
 - Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article Q217004,
   BackOffice Installer Tool Does Not Delete Password Cache File.
   http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q217/0/04.asp
   (Note: It might take 24 hours from the original posting of this
   bulletin for the KB article to be visible in the Web-based
   Knowledge Base.)

Obtaining Support on this Issue
===============================
If you require technical assistance with this issue, please contact
Microsoft Technical Support. For information on contacting Microsoft
Technical Support, please see
http://support.microsoft.com/support/contact/default.asp.

Revisions
=========
 - February 12, 1999: Bulletin Created


For additional security-related information about Microsoft products, please
visit http://www.microsoft.com/security


- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- ----

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WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER
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FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

(C) 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.


[  End Microsoft Advisory  ]
______________________________________________________________________________

CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Microsoft for the 
information contained in this bulletin.
______________________________________________________________________________


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