Microsoft Bugs

MS OFFICE BUGS FIXED

Several bugs (newly discovered as well as old) in various Microsoft applications such as Access, Excel, and Powerpoint have been fixed with Office 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP-2). Users wishing to apply this service pack MUST have SR-1 or SR-1a installed before doing so. To download SP-2, browse to:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloaddetails/sp2upd.htm

MSIE 5.01 AND ACCESS VULNERABLE TOGETHER

As contrived as it sounds, a knowledgeable user can easily exploit this vulnerability. There are currently no vendor-supplied fixes or patches for this problem. However, concerned users are urged to make use of the following workaround: assign a password to the admin account in Access. The user will then get a log-in dialog box when he or she opens a database.

NT 4 REMOTE REGISTRY ACCESS AUTHENTICATION BUG

In Windows NT 4, the Remote Registry server must first authenticate remote access to the Registry. If the request is specifically malformed, it could cause the server to fail. A failure in winlogon.exe, the process that contains the Remote Registry Server, would cause the entire system to fail.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-040.asp

WINDOWS 98 MAPPED NETWORK DRIVES

An "Access Denied" error may occur when trying to connect a handheld to a Windows 95 or 98 desktop running Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks and Microsoft Service for NetWare Directory Services (MSNDS) network clients. This is usually caused by mapping a network drive in a login script. The easiest workaround is to reboot and not map network drives in a login script.

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER AND JAVASCRIPT URLS

It is possible to execute a JavaScript URL from within the Windows Media Player ActiveX control embedded in HTML. This JavaScript can be executed in arbitrary frames specified within the ActiveX control. An attacker can take over the frame's document object model and bypass security restrictions. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability can read files on the user's file system and reportedly execute arbitrary programs on the victim's computer. The WKIT Security Advisory Team has provided the following workaround:

"Since this vulnerability depends on ActiveX and JavaScript it can be disarmed by adjusting the security settings in MS IE. If ActiveX and Active Scripting options are set to Disabled or Ask (and the user chooses No when prompted) this vulnerability should be prevented." 

VISUAL BASIC 5.0--VISUAL SOURCESAFE BUG

If you're using Microsoft's Visual Basic with Visual SourceSafe, you may receive one of the following errors when trying to retrieve a project from SourceSafe:

"Failed to reload project"
"Application error"
"The instruction at '0x0fa659de' referenced memory at '0x30303030'. The memory could not be read."

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug and has fixed the problem in Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 2. For more information on the Service Pack, you can read the article "Visual Studio 97 Service Packs--What, Where, and Why" in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q170/3/65.asp

For a list of the Visual Basic 5.0 bugs fixed in the Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 2, you can read the article "Visual Basic 5.0 Fixes in Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 2" in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q171/5/54.asp

BUG/VIRUS ALERT FROM MICROSOFT

Microsoft recently discovered a bug/virus that allows an outsider to gain access to your computer. The bug/virus, known as BackOrifice 2000 (BO2K), is a malicious program that, when installed on a Windows computer, allows the computer to be remotely controlled by another user. BO2K is intended to be used for malicious purposes and includes stealth behavior that has no purpose other than to make it difficult to detect. Like any computer program, BO2K must be installed on the target machine; it cannot be injected onto your machine. There are only two ways it can be installed:

* You allow the attacker physical access to your logged-on computer. If the attacker learns your password or you leave your logged-on workstation unattended, he or she can install BO2K on your machine.

* The attacker tricks you into installing the software. This is known as a Trojan horse technique. The attacker might send you an e-mail attachment that appears to be a game but that really installs BackOrifice.

Microsoft is closely monitoring the situation. For additional security-related information about Microsoft products, visit

http://www.microsoft.com/security/

MSIE 5 PROGRAMMING BUG

Microsoft recently identified a problem you may experience with Internet Explorer (Programming) version 5. Internet Explorer reports an "Invalid character" error when a Unicode .js file is included with the SCRIPT tag--for example:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" SRC="Sample.JS">

If the script debugger is enabled, it reports that the first two characters in the .js file (the Unicode Byte Order Mark, or BOM) are the source of the problem.

Another closely associated problem occurs if the Byte Order Mark is removed from a Unicode format .js file and the file contains Unicode characters. When the .js file is included during Internet Explorer page rendering, Unicode characters in the .js file are interpreted as simple ASCII and cause either a script error, as above, or the display of garbage characters. Similarly, removing the BOM from a UTF-8 encoded file containing non-ASCII Unicode characters results in garbage characters displaying on the rendered Web page. 

Note that in the Internet Explorer Advanced dialog box (from the Tools menu, select Internet Options), you must clear the option Disable Script Debugging or select the option Display A Notification About Every Script Error in order to receive a detailed error message for this problem. If these two options are not set correctly, the Internet Explorer status bar indicates there are errors on the page. The page loads, but the .js file does not.

Microsoft says it is possible to work around the problem in most cases by embedding Unicode escape sequences in the .js file saved in ASCII. For instance, the following JScript statement in an ASCII .js file can specify the Hiragana character NO:

var s = String("Hiragana NO = \u306E")

When the ASCII .js file loads from the SCRIPT tag, there is no Unicode Byte Order Mark, and the \uXXXX escapes convert to proper Unicode characters that appear on a Web page.

PRINTING BUG IN WINDOWS 98 DEVICE MANAGER

In Windows 98's Device Manager, if you choose to print an All Devices And System Summary, the device detection code may cause problems for MS-DOS-based programs. Your computer manifests the problem by reporting that it is out of memory when you try to run an MS-DOS-based program. When this problem occurs, restart Windows 98 to correct the problem.