Security Bulletin

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-005 - Important

Patch Available for "Malformed RTF Control Word" Vulnerability

Published: January 17, 2000

Version: 1.0

Originally Posted: January 17, 2000

Summary

Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in the Rich Text Format (RTF) reader that ships as part of Microsoft® Windows® 95 and 98, and Windows NT® 4.0. Under certain conditions, the vulnerability could be used to cause email programs to crash.

Frequently asked questions regarding this vulnerability can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-005.mspx

General Information

Issue

RTF files consist of text and control information. The control information is specified via directives called control words. The default RTF reader that ships as part of many Windows platforms has an unchecked buffer in the portion of the reader that parses control words. If an RTF file contains a specially-malformed control word, it could cause the application to crash.

Microsoft believes that this is a denial of service vulnerability only, and that there is no capability to use this vulnerability to run arbitrary code. The most serious risk from this vulnerability would result if a user had preview mode enabled on a mail program like Outlook, and received an email that exploited the vulnerability. Because preview mode causes the mail to be parsed without user assent, the mail program would continue to crash until a subsequent mail was received or the mail program was started with preview mode disabled.

Affected Software Versions

  • Microsoft Windows 95
  • Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server, Terminal Server Edition
    NOTE: Windows 2000 is not affected by this vulnerability.

Vulnerability Identifier: CVE-2000-0073

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://support.microsoft.com/contactussupport/?ws=support.

Revisions

  • January 17, 2000: Bulletin Created.

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Built at 2014-04-18T13:49:36Z-07:00