MS09-008: Vulnerabilities in DNS and WINS Server could allow spoofing

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 and additional information about this security update

For more information about this security update and for information about any known issues with specific releases of this software, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

DNS 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:

WINS Resource Consumption Issue

Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) installed on Windows Server 2003-based computers may encounter a resource consumption issue withthe security update 961064 installed. CPU usage of all WINS servers on the same multicast network could become excessive. For example, the CPU usage of the WINS servers could be 50 to 100 percent of system resources. Specifically, the other WINS servers on the same multicast network are forced to receive and process many multicast packets from the problematic WINS server. The large volume of network traffic that is generated by this behavior means that users encounter poor network performance. A Hotfix update is available that resolves the network resource consumption.

For more information about the symptoms and the details of the hotfix, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The English (United States) version of this software update installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The dates and times for these files on your local computer are displayed in your local time and with your current daylight saving time (DST) bias. Additionally, the dates and times may change when you perform certain operations on the files.

Windows 2000 file information

For DNS server on all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

For WINS server on all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 file information

• The files that apply to a specific milestone (RTM, SP n) 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 (KB number.cat) that is signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For DNS server on all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003 and of Windows XP Professional x64 edition

For WINS server on all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003 and of Windows XP Professional x64 edition

For DNS server on all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2003

For WINS server on all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2003

For WINS server on all supported Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2003

For DNS server on all supported Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2003

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 file information

• The files that apply to a specific product, milestone (RTM, SP n), 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 (.manifest) and the MUM files (.mum) that are installed for each environment are listed separately. MUM and MANIFEST files, and the associated security catalog (.cat) files, are critical to maintaining the state of the updated component. The security catalog files (attributes not listed) are signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For DNS server on all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008 and of Windows Vista

For DNS server on all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 and of Windows Vista

Additional file information for Windows Server 2008 and for Windows Vista

Additional files for DNS server on all supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008 and of Windows Vista

Additional files for DNS server on all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 and of Windows Vista