Secure Networks Inc.
Technical Paper Announcement
February 9, 1997
Vulnerabilities in Network Intrusion Detection Software
This posting is being released to announce a technical paper outlining
vulnerabilities in commonly deployed "network-based" intrusion detection
systems, including ISS RealSecure, AbirNet SessionWall-3, WheelGroup NetRanger,
and Network Flight Recorder. Due to fundemental flaws in the manner by which
these systems collect information, it is possible for an attacker to evade
detection. Additionally, ID systems that provide "reactive" capabilities can
be leveraged via spoofing attacks by an attacker to commit denial-of-service
attacks against the networks they protect.
This paper is available via our website in the following formats:
- Executive Summary in Word Format
http://www.securenetworks.com/papers/ids-simple.doc
- Full Paper in HTML Format
http://www.securenetworks.com/papers/ids-html/
- Full Paper in PostScript Format
http://www.securenetworks.com/papers/IDS.PS
- Full Paper in PDF Format
http://www.securenetworks.com/papers/IDS.PDF
- A press release for this paper is available at:
http://www.securenetworks.com/news/press.html
Tested Systems:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We tested ISS RealSecure version 1.0.97.224 for Windows NT.
We tested WheelGroup Corporation's NetRanger product in version 1.2.2.
We tested the most recent evaluation release of AbirNet SessionWall-3,
version 1, release 2, build v1.2.0.26 for Windows NT.
We tested Network Flight Recorder's NFR version 1.5. NFR is not
specifically a network intrusion detection system, and our results apply
only to NFR when used as an engine for network ID.
All tested systems were vulnerable to problems that would allow a remote
attacker to launch undetected attacks against networks protected by these
intrusion detection systems.
Type Bits/KeyID Date User ID
pub 1024/9E55000D 1997/01/13 Secure Networks Inc. <sni@securenetworks.com>
Secure Networks <security@securenetworks.com>
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Copyright Notice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The contents of this advisory are Copyright (C) 1998 Secure Networks Inc,
and may be distributed freely provided that no fee is charged for
distribution, and that proper credit is given.
You can find Secure Networks papers at ftp://ftp.securenetworks.com/pub/papers
and advisories at ftp://ftp.securenetworks.com/advisories
You can browse our web site at http://www.securenetworks.com
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