MS09-008: Description of the security update for DNS server: March 10, 2009

Microsoft has released security bulletin MS09-008. To view the complete security bulletin, visit one of the following Microsoft Web sites:

• Home users:
  http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/bulletins/200903.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/bulletins/200903.mspx)
  Skip the details: Download the updates for your home computer or laptop from the Microsoft Update Web site now:
  http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/ (http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/)
• IT professionals:
  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-008.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-008.mspx)

How to obtain help and support for this security update

For home users, no-charge support is available by calling 1-866-PCSAFETY in the United States and Canada or by contacting your local Microsoft subsidiary. For more information about how to contact your local Microsoft subsidiary for support issues with security updates, visit the Microsoft International Support Web site: North American customers can also obtain instant access to unlimited no-charge e-mail support or to unlimited individual chat support by visiting the following Microsoft Web site: For enterprise customers, support for security updates is available through your usual support contacts.

Known issues with this security update

MS09-008 is a DNS Server-only patch that supersedes MS08-037. However, MS08-037 consists of two updates, one for the DNS server component (951746) and one for the DNS client component (951748). Therefore, both updates are required for the Windows Servers that are affected. For consistency, the updates have to be installed on the Windows Server that is hosting the DNS server service.

To be clear on the requirements, if you install the MS09-008 (961063) DNS server update, you still have to install the MS08-037 (951748) DNS client update for the server’s DNS client component.

Resource Consumption Issues

Resource Consumption Issues Windows DNS server systems may see an increase in memory and file handles resource consumption for systems on which the security update that is described in MS08-037 is installed. This is expected behavior because of the SocketPool randomization feature that was implemented to address this security vulnerability on Windows-based servers. The implementation of the DNS server security update reserves a set of ports. One of the ports is selected randomly for each outgoing DNS query. This design decision was made to address performance concerns for DNS servers that handle and originate a significantly larger number of queries than Windows-based clients. The set of reserved ports that the DNS server reserves is known as a "socket pool." By default, the size of the socket pool on Windows-based servers is 2,500 sockets. To configure this size, change the SocketPoolSize registry entry in the following subkey in the registry:
For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web page:

The English (United States) version of this security update has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

For all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

Windows Server 2003 file information notes

• The files that apply to a specific milestone (RTM, SPn) and service branch (QFE, GDR) are noted in the “SP requirement” and "Service branch” columns.
• GDR service branches contain only those fixes that are widely released to address widespread, critical issues. QFE service branches contain hotfixes in addition to widely released fixes.
• In addition to the files that are listed in these tables, this software update also installs an associated security catalog file (KBnumber.cat) that is signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2003

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003

For all supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2008 file information notes

• The files that apply to a specific product, milestone (RTM, SPn), and service branch (LDR, GDR) can be identified by examining the file version numbers as shown in the following table.
  
  Collapse this tableExpand this table

  Version	Product	Milestone	Service branch
  6.0.6000.16xxx	Windows Vista	RTM	GDR
  6.0.6000.20xxx	Windows Vista	RTM	LDR
  6.0.6001.18xxx	Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1	SP1	GDR
  6.0.6001.22xxx	Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1	SP1	LDR

• Service Pack 1 is integrated into the original release version of Windows Server 2008. Therefore, RTM milestone files apply only to Windows Vista. RTM milestone files have a 6.0.0000.xxxxxx version number.
• GDR service branches contain only those fixes that are widely released to address widespread, critical issues. LDR service branches contain hotfixes in addition to widely released fixes.
• The .manifest files and the .mum files that are installed in each environment are listed separately in the "Additional file information for Windows Server 2008" section. These files and their associated .cat (security catalog) files are critical to maintaining the state of the updated component. The .cat files are signed with a Microsoft digital signature. The attributes of these security files are not listed.

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008

Additional file information for Windows Server 2008

Additional files for all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008

Additional files for all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008