TUCoPS :: Windows Apps :: ciaci075.txt

Microsoft Office 98 Security

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             __________________________________________________________

                       The U.S. Department of Energy
                    Computer Incident Advisory Capability
                           ___  __ __    _     ___
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             __________________________________________________________

                             INFORMATION BULLETIN

                   Microsoft Office 98 Security Vulnerability

July 21, 1998 21:00 GMT                                           Number I-075
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:       A vulnerability has been identified in Microsoft Office 98
               applications running on Macintosh systems. The same
               vulnerability was identified in Microsoft Office 95 and
               Microsoft Windows 95 in January, 1996.
PLATFORM:      All Macintosh platforms using Microsoft Office 98 applications
               running all versions of Mac OS.
               All unpatched PCs with Microsoft Office 95 applications running
               Windows 95.
DAMAGE:        Documents generated using Microsoft Office applications may
               contain hidden data from previous files. Private information
               may be revealed to a recipient of the document without the
               knowledge of the sender. This vulnerability may pose security
               and privacy concerns.
SOLUTION:      Apply the patch indicated below.
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY  This vulnerability has been highly publicized, therefore CIAC
ASSESSMENT:    recommends that you take the appropriate action as soon as
               possible. Systems with sensitive unclassified or classified
               information should apply the patch immediately.
______________________________________________________________________________


CIAC has been informed of a security problem with Microsoft Office 98
documents on the Macintosh platform.  The problem was first identified in
Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows 95 in January, 1996. Microsoft
issued a patch for that particular platform shortly after its discovery. 
Windows NT with NTFS file systems are not vulnerable to this security problem.

The vulnerability originates from the way Microsoft Windows 95 and the Mac OS
handle deleted files. When a document is saved it becomes a file and the file
is allocated space in a sector on the disk.  Like many other Operating Systems
(OS), the Mac OS does not erase files when an individual deletes them; it
simply removes the reference to the file and marks the space it occupied as
"free".  Microsoft Office 98 applications ignore the logical end of file and
thereby include the entire contents of the disk sector in the file. Therefore,
if the disk sector has been previously used, that information may be included
within the Microsoft Office document.  For example, sending a Word 98 document
as an attachment can reveal private information from the sender's computer
without the sender's knowledge.  This situation may pose security and privacy
concerns when electronic versions of these documents are mailed as
attachments.  Opening the file using an ASCII text editor can test the
vulnerability.  When opening the file using Microsoft Office 98 applications,
the additional information is invisible.

To prevent extraneous information or data from being included in a Microsoft
Office 98 document file, individuals have several options:

 (1) Apply the patch released from Microsoft.

 (2) Store the documents on their own separate volume.  For an example, use  
     'Save As' to place your Word document on a newly clean disk volume, such
     as a new floppy disk.

 (3) The safest option may be to save the document in RTF format before
     sending it to others.


Microsoft Patch Information

PCs with Microsoft Windows 95 running Microsoft Office 95 applications
http://support.microsoft.com/support/Kb/articles/q139/4/32.asp

Macintosh running Microsoft Office 98 applications:
http://www.microsoft.com/macoffice/productinfo/98dl/offi98patch.htm


______________________________________________________________________________

CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of www.macintouch.com and
www.macfixit.com  for the information contained in this bulletin.
______________________________________________________________________________


CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, is the computer
security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding
member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a
global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination
among computer security teams worldwide.

CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. CIAC
can be contacted at:
    Voice:    +1 925-422-8193
    FAX:      +1 925-423-8002
    STU-III:  +1 925-423-2604
    E-mail:   ciac@llnl.gov

For emergencies and off-hour assistance, DOE, DOE contractor sites,
and the NIH may contact CIAC 24-hours a day. During off hours (5PM -
8AM PST), call the CIAC voice number 925-422-8193 and leave a message,
or call 800-759-7243 (800-SKY-PAGE) to send a Sky Page. CIAC has two
Sky Page PIN numbers, the primary PIN number, 8550070, is for the CIAC
duty person, and the secondary PIN number, 8550074 is for the CIAC
Project Leader.

Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are
available from the CIAC Computer Security Archive.

   World Wide Web:      http://www.ciac.org/
                        (or http://ciac.llnl.gov -- they're the same machine)
   Anonymous FTP:       ftp.ciac.org
                        (or ciac.llnl.gov -- they're the same machine)
   Modem access:        +1 (925) 423-4753 (28.8K baud)
                        +1 (925) 423-3331 (28.8K baud)

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1. CIAC-BULLETIN for Advisories, highest priority - time critical
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3. SPI-NOTES, for discussion of problems and solutions regarding the
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PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE, ESnet, and NIH computing
communities receive CIAC bulletins.  If you are not part of these
communities, please contact your agency's response team to report
incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with CIAC. The Forum of
Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide
organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their
constituencies can be obtained via WWW at http://www.first.org/.

This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an
agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States
Government nor the University of California nor any of their
employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any
legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or
usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process
disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately
owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products,
process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or
otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,
recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the
University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed
herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States
Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for
advertising or product endorsement purposes.

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