Unchecked Buffer in Microsoft Data Access Components New

An unchecked buffer in Microsoft Data Access Components 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 could allows an attacker to run the code of their choice with the same level of permissions as the MDAC application.

Issue

Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) is a collection of components that are used to provide database connectivity on Windows platforms. MDAC is a ubiquitous technology, and it is likely to be present on most Windows systems.

MDAC is either included in or installed by a number of other products and technologies. For example, MDAC is included in the Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 Option Pack and in Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Additionally, some MDAC components are present as part of Microsoft Internet Explorer even when MDAC itself is not installed.

MDAC provides the underlying functionality for a number of database operations, such as connecting to remote databases and returning data to a client. When a client system on a network tries to see a list of computers that are running SQL Server and that reside on the network, it sends a broadcast request to all the devices that are on the network. Due to a flaw in a specific MDAC component, an attacker could respond to this request with a specially crafted packet that could cause a buffer overflow.

An attacker who successfully exploited this flaw could gain the same level of privileges over the system as the application that initiated the broadcast request. The actions an attacker could carry out would be dependent on the permissions which the application using MDAC ran under. If the application ran with limited privileges, an attacker would be limited accordingly; however, if the application ran under the local system context, the attacker would have the same level of permissions. This could include creating, modifying, or deleting data on the system, or reconfiguring the system. This could also include reformatting the hard disk or running programs of the attacker’s choice.

Affected Products

• Microsoft Data Access Components 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7

Download

Patch: http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9107ABC6-8995-4A99-B6A0-478B3A847E9C&displaylang=en

Further Details

Source: Microsoft Corporation

Reference: Microsoft Corporation

Updated: August 20, 2003

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