A hole in Windows NT 4.0's security was announced emerged this week. Because of this hole, network administrators to lose remote control of their NT-based server. The bug can cause an NT-based network server to lock out all remote instructions, which can effectively freeze the machine.

If a user opens a connection, transmits a string that isn't understood as a command, and then disconnects, CPU utilization rises to 100 percent as the server tries to interpret the data.

Administrators using the Microsoft fix still need to be careful: If the NT Service Pack is reinstalled after the fix has been applied -- the pack warns that this should be done if the configuration is changed -- the amended rpcltscm.dll file is overwritten by the original flawed version, causing the bug to re-emerge.

The patch can be found at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/usa/nt40/hotfixes-postSP2/RPC-fix.

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updated February 2, 1997
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