Posted on 11:18 AM
Windows Server 2008 features major upgrades to Terminal Services. Terminal Services now supports Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0. The most notable improvement is the ability to share a single application over a Remote Desktop connection, instead of the entire desktop. This feature is called Terminal Services RemoteApp. Other features new to Terminal Services include Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services Web Access (full web interface). With Terminal Services Gateway, authorized computers are able to connect securely to a Terminal Server or Remote Desktop from the Internet using RDP via HTTPS without implementing a VPN session first. Additional ports do not need to be opened in the firewall; RDP is tunneled through HTTPS. Terminal Services Web Access enables administrators to provide access to the Terminal Services Sessions via a Web interface. TS Web Access comes with an adjustable Webpart for IIS and Sharepoint, which advertises the possible applications and connections to the user. Using TS Gateway and TS RemoteApp, the whole communication is via HTTP(S) and the remote applications appear transparent to the user as if they are running locally. Multiple applications run in the same session to ensure that there is no need for additional licenses per user. Terminal Services Easy Print does not require administrators to install any printer drivers on the server, but guarantees successful client printer redirection and availability of all printer UI and properties for use in remote sessions. Terminal Services sessions are created in parallel, instead of a serial operation - the new session model can initiate at least four sessions in parallel, or more if a server has more than four processors.
Posted on 7:13 PM
Windows XP is a family of 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. The name "XP" stands for eXPerience.[1] Windows XP is the successor to both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me, and is the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel (version 5.1) and architecture. Windows XP was first released on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst.[2] It is succeeded by Windows Vista, which was released to volume license customers on November 8, 2006, and worldwide to the general public on January 30, 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on June 30, 2008, although it is still possible to obtain Windows XP from System Builders[3] (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) until January 31, 2009 or by purchasing Windows Vista Ultimate or Business and then downgrading to Windows XP.[4][5]
The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which offers additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users, business and enterprise clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is designed to run ink-aware applications built using the Tablet PC platform. Two separate 64-bit versions of Windows XP were also released, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 (Itanium) processors and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for x86-64. There is also Windows XP Embedded, a componentized version of the Windows XP Professional, and editions for specific markets such as Windows XP Starter Edition.
Windows XP is known for its improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows.[6][7] It presents a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. New software management capabilities were introduced to avoid the "DLL hell" that plagued older consumer-oriented 9x versions of Windows.[8][9] It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat software piracy, a restriction that did not sit well with some users and privacy advocates. Windows XP has also been criticized by some users for security vulnerabilities, tight integration of applications such as Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Media Player, and for aspects of its default user interface. Later versions with Service Pack 2, and Internet Explorer 7 addressed some of these concerns.
During development, the project was codenamed "Whistler", after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort.[10]
Posted on 5:33 PM
The following short tutorial explains how to do a (limited) pentest against Oracle (8.1.7.4 –
10.2.0.2). This tutorial will be extended in the future…
The following tutorial explains how to do an Oracle pentest with Backtrack 2.0. I want to
thank the entire Backtrack-Team for this great collection of security tools and Max for the
collaboration.
Nowadays there are many Oracle 10g databases around. Oracle did a good job (but not a
perfect) hardening the database out of the box. Most tutorials still describe how to break older
8i/9i databases. Most of the older tools are not working against the new 10g listener. We will
show how to connect to an Oracle database, decrypt Oracle passwords, hack the TNS listener
and escalate privileges.
Questions and comments are welcome.
Nov. 2006 - http://www.red-database-security.com 1 / 19
At a glance:
1. Find the Oracle database + port of the listener (with nmap/amap)
nmap –v
2. Get the version number of the database (with tnscmd)
tnscmd10g.pl version –h
3. Get the SID/servicename (with tnscmd or sidguess)
tnscmd10g.pl status –h (unprotected listener)
sidguess host= port= sidfile=sid.txt
4. Connect to the database (with sqlplus)
sqlplus user/password@//:/
5. Check the database for weak passwords(with checkpwd)
checkpwd user/password@//:/
default_password.txt
6. Hacking the TNS Listener with tnscmd10g.pl
7. Escalating Privileges via sqlplus
a. dbms_export_extension
b. more coming soon.