Allaire Security Bulletin (ASB00-13)
                  Microsoft (MS00-031): Patch Available for "Undelimited .HTR Request" and "File
                  Fragment Reading via .HTR" Vulnerabilities

                  Originally Posted: May 22, 2000
                  Last Updated: May 22, 2000 

                  Summary

                  Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates two security vulnerabilities in Microsoft(r)
                  Internet Information Server. The vulnerabilities could, respectively, be used to slow an affected
                  web server's response or to obtain the source code of certain types of files under very
                  restricted conditions. This is not a problem with ColdFusion Server itself, but it is an issue that
                  can affect ColdFusion users. Allaire recommends that customers follow the instructions posted
                  on the Microsoft Web site to address this issue. 

                  Issue

                  These issues are clearly explained in the Microsoft Security Bulletin: "The 'Undelimited .HTR
                  Request' vulnerability is a denial of service vulnerability. If a malicious user provided a password
                  change request that was missing an expected delimiter, the algorithm would conduct an
                  unbounded search. This would prevent it from servicing additional .HTR requests, and could
                  also slow the overall response of the server."

                  And: "The '.HTR File Fragment Reading' vulnerability could allow fragments of certain types of
                  files to be read by providing a malformed request that would cause the .HTR processing to be
                  applied to them. However, the vulnerability could only be exploited under extremely restrictive
                  conditions, and the most valuable data in the files would be the least likely to actually appear in
                  the fragments sent to the user."

                  Further: "Neither of these vulnerabilities would allow data to be added, deleted or changed on
                  the server, nor would they allow any administrative control on the server to be usurped.
                  Although .HTR files are used to allow web-based password administration, neither of these
                  vulnerabilities involve[sic.] any weakness in password handling. Also, if security best practices
                  have been followed, and unneeded script mappings have been removed, many customers will
                  have removed the .HTR script mapping and thus be unaffected by either vulnerability."

                  Affected Software Versions

                       Internet Information Server 4.0 
                       Internet Information Server 5.0 

                  What Allaire is Doing

                  This is not an Allaire product. We are recommending that customers reference the information
                  at Microsoft's site to address this issue.

                  What Customers Should Do

                  There is a patch available to correct this problem. It is detailed in the following Microsoft
                  Security Bulletin (MS00-031):

                  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms00-031.asp

                  Please note: this issue and patch may not be required for all users. Allaire customers
                  should review all material in the Microsoft Security Bulletin and related documents
                  carefully before applying the patch. As always, customers should test patch changes in
                  a testing environment before modifying production servers. 

                  Revisions
                  May 22, 2000 -- Bulletin first created.

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                  For additional information on security issues at Allaire, please visit the Security Zone at:
                  http://www.allaire.com/security

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