UPDATED DRIVERS FOR WINDOWS 95 FILE AND PRINTER SHARING SECURITY ISSUE

October 20, 1995 -- Microsoft wants its customers to know that it has
discovered and fixed a potential security problem with file and printer
sharing in Windows 95. Only customers who have enabled file and printer
sharing - a non-default option - may have been at risk, and, to the best
of our knowledge, no users have been harmed. Nevertheless, Microsoft
regards this potential problem with the greatest seriousness and, we have
worked hard over the past week to resolve it. Microsoft recommends
customers using File and Printer Sharing upgrade to the newer drivers.

How do I know if I am affected?

Only customers that use the File and Printer Sharing option to share their
files with other users on a network are affected. This option is not
enabled by default so unless you have manually enabled it, you are not
affected by this issue. To determine if File and Printer Sharing is
enabled, choose the Networks Option in the Control Panel.

If file and printer sharing is enabled, you will see either "File and
Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" or "File and Printer Sharing for
NetWare Networks" in the list of installed network components.

What are the issues?

File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks

Microsoft was recently made aware of an issue with File and Printer sharing
for NetWare Networks which may affect data security for corporate users.

Only users whose environments meet both of the following conditions may be
affected:

    1. They configure their machine to share files and
        printers with other users on the network using File
        and Printer Sharing for NetWare networks (This
        option is not turned on by default)

    2. They enable remote administration or install
        Microsoft Remote Registry Services  (These options
        are not turned on by default)

If your configuration matches that listed above, it is possible for another
user on the network to gain read-only access to your machine after the
administrator has logged off the machine and until you restart your
computer. To correct this problem, Microsoft has issued an updated driver
for File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks. The updated driver
ensures that only valid administrators have access to the computer's
drive.

File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks (not MSN: The Microsoft
Network online service)

Microsoft is also issuing an update for a known problem with File and
Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks and a certain UNIX shareware
network client (Samba's SMBCLIENT). The update corrects a problem with
share-level security documented in the Microsoft Knowledge Base on October
9th. The update also includes a correction for a similar problem with
user-level security that Microsoft recently discovered as part of its
internal testing of the new driver.

Customers whose environments meet all of the conditions below, may have
their data susceptible to network or Internet hackers:

    1. They configure their machine to share files and
        printers with other users on the network using File
        and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks (This
        option is not turned on by default)

    2. They share a LAN, Internet, or Dial-Up connection
        with a UNIX-based computer running Samba's
        SMBCLIENT software

    3. The network administrator does not disable peer
        services using System Policies

The Samba SMB client allows its users to send illegal networking commands
over the network. The Samba client is the only known SMB client at this
time that does not filter out such illegal commands. SMBCLIENT users do
not automatically have access to the Windows 95 drive, and must know the
exact steps to send these illegal commands.

The updated driver prevents these illegal commands from being executed,
preventing SMBCLIENT users from accessing the drive on which sharing is
enabled. With the updated driver, the SMBCLIENT user will only have access
to those shared folders that the Windows 95 user has designated.

How do I get the Updated Drivers?

(Please note that this only affects English language versions of Windows
95.)

Both drivers are available for immediate download from the Internet
(http://www.microsoft.com/windows), The Microsoft Network online service,
and is being made available to other online services including CompuServe,
America Online, and Prodigy. The updated drivers will also be mailed to
any user free of charge if they call Microsoft's FastTips line,
800-936-4200, beginning Monday, October 23rd.

Microsoft is committed to providing safe connectivity solutions for
customers. Microsoft takes this responsibility seriously and has worked,
and will continue to work, with great speed to provide solutions for
customer issues.
 
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