Security Bulletin

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-032 - Critical

Patch and Tool Available for "Protected Store Key Length" Vulnerability

Published: June 01, 2000 | Updated: January 08, 2001

Version: 1.2

Originally Posted: June 01, 2000
Updated: January 8, 2001

Summary

On June 01, 2000, Microsoft released the original version of this bulletin. However, an error was subsequently discovered in the patch, and on July 26, 2000, Microsoft released a corrected version.

Microsoft has released a patch and a tool that eliminate a security vulnerability in Microsoft® Windows® 2000. The vulnerability could make it easier for a malicious user who had complete control over a Windows 2000 machine to compromise users' sensitive information.

Frequently asked questions regarding this vulnerability and the patch can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-032.mspx

General Information

Issue

A Protected Store is provided as part of CryptoAPI, in order to provide secure storage for sensitive information such as private keys and certificates. By design, the Protected Store should always encrypt the information using the strongest cryptography available on the machine. However, the Windows 2000 implementation uses 40-bit key to encrypt the Protected Store, even if stronger cryptography is installed on the machine.

This vulnerability weakens the protection on the Protected Store, but does not eliminate it. An attacker would need to gain complete administrative control over the machine that houses the Protected Store in order to gain access to it, and even then would still need to mount a brute-force cryptographic attack against it. However, customers who follow the recommended remediation for this vulnerability can ensure that such an attack would be significantly more difficult, if not impossible.

The patch package to eliminate this vulnerability contains a new version of PSBASE.DLL, the module that provides the Protected Store functionality, and a tool named Keymigrt.exe. Installing PSBASE.DLL will ensure that all future additions to the Protected Store are encrypted using the strongest cryptography available on the machine. However, the Keymigrt tool also needs to be run, in order to re-encrypt all items currently in the Protected Store. We recommend that system administrators place the Keymigrt tool into users' logon scripts to ensure that the tool is run the next time they log on.

Affected Software Versions

  • Windows 2000 Professional
  • Windows 2000 Server
  • Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Vulnerability Identifier: CAN-2000-0487

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:.

Revisions

  • June 01, 2000: Bulletin Created.
  • July 26, 2000: Updated to correct a regression and packaging problem with the original patch.
  • January 08, 2001: Updated to clarify the method of obtaining the keymigrt tool, and to clarify that the patch functionality, but not the keymigrt functionality, is provided in SP1.

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