Microsoft KB Archive/235179

= Licsvcfg.log Exposes the SQL SA Account Password When License Metering Is Enabled =

Article ID: 235179

Article Last Modified on 10/27/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q235179



SYMPTOMS
When logging is enabled for a Systems Management Server (SMS) site, the Licsvcfg.log file reveals the password that SMS uses to connect to SQL Server. If SQL is configured to use standard security and SMS is configured to use the default SA account to access SQL, the SQL security may be compromised.



CAUSE
SMS logging is used to help administrators monitor the flow of information through the SMS system. As a part of typical processing, SMS makes frequent connections to the SQL server to access the SMS database(s).



WORKAROUND
To avoid this issue, do not enable logging for the SMS site servers. If you must enable logging for troubleshooting purposes, disable it as soon as possible. In addition, do not use the standard SA account with SMS; specify a different account or use integrated security. If integrated security is enabled, be aware that the password for the Microsoft Windows NT account used by SMS may be revealed in the Licsvcfg.log file.

If License Metering logging is enabled, make sure to limit physical access to the server that is hosting the License Metering log file.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SMS version 2.0. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. service pack for SMS version 2.0. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K



MORE INFORMATION
This issue is fixed in Service Pack 1 for SMS 2.0.

Additional query words: prodsms

Keywords: kbbug kbprb KB235179

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