Security Bulletin

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-013 - Critical

Patch Available for "Misordered Windows Media Services Handshake" Vulnerability

Published: February 23, 2000

Version: 1.0

Originally Posted: February 23, 2000

Summary

Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in Microsoft® Windows Media Services. The vulnerability could allow denial of service attacks against a streaming media server.

Frequently asked questions regarding this vulnerability and the patch can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-013.mspx

General Information

Issue

The handshake sequence between a Windows Media server and a Windows Media Player is asynchronous, because certain resource requests are dependent on the successful completion of previous ones. If the client-side handshake packets are sent in a particular misordered sequence, with certain timing constraints, the server will attempt to use a resource before it has been initialized and will fail catastrophically, causing the Windows Media Unicast Service to crash.

The Windows Media Unicast Service can be put back into normal operating condition by restarting the service, but any sessions that were in effect at the time of the crash would need to be restarted.

Affected Software Versions

  • Microsoft Windows Media Services 4.0 and 4.1
    Note Windows NT Server 4.0 customers should upgrade their Windows Media Services installation to Windows Media Services 4.1 before applying the patch. Windows 2000 Server includes Windows Media Services 4.1, so the patch can be applied directly to this configuration

Vulnerability Identifier: CVE-2000-0211

Patch Availability

More Information

Please see the following references for more information related to this issue.

Obtaining Support on this Issue

This is a fully supported patch. Information on contacting Microsoft Technical Support is available at </https:>https:.

Acknowledgments

Microsoft thanks Kit Knox for bringing this issue to our attention.

Revisions

  • February 23, 2000: Bulletin Created.

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