Microsoft KB Archive/197464

= How to Detect the: $DATA Attack in IIS Log Files =

Article ID: 197464

Article Last Modified on 6/23/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Internet Information Server 1.0
 * Microsoft Internet Information Server 2.0
 * Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0
 * Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0

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This article was previously published under Q197464



We strongly recommend that all users upgrade to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0 running on Microsoft Windows Server 2003. IIS 6.0 significantly increases Web infrastructure security. For more information about IIS security-related topics, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/IIS.mspx



SYMPTOMS
As a result of a problem with Internet Information Server (IIS) and NTFS Alternate Data Streams, administrators may want to determine if their server was "attacked" by Internet users attempting to gain access to source text.



MORE INFORMATION
IIS is configured by default to log access to the server. When logging is enabled and a request is made from a browser to IIS using Alternate Data Streams (for example http://myserver/file.asp::$DATA), IIS writes this information to the log file. By analyzing the log files kept by the server, any attempted access to source code can be determined.

The following examples show what a request to the "/default.asp" page of a server would look like if an attempt was made to view the file's source code:   W3C Extended Log File Format:

11:25:12 10.0.0.5 GET /default.asp::$DATA 200 11:26:07 10.0.0.5 GET /default.asp::$DATA 304 11:54:04 10.0.0.5 GET /default.asp::$DATA 200

NCSA Common Log File Format:

10.0.0.5 - - [02/Jul/1998:11:25:12 -0600] "GET /default.asp::$DATA     HTTP/1.1" 200 13388 10.0.0.5 - - [02/Jul/1998:11:26:07 -0600] "GET /default.asp::$DATA     HTTP/1.1" 304 123 10.0.0.5 - - [02/Jul/1998:11:54:04 -0600] "GET /default.asp::$DATA     HTTP/1.1" 200 12219

Microsoft IIS Log File Format:

10.0.0.5,-     ,02/Jul/1998,11:25:12,W3SVC,SERVER1,10.0.0.2,163,13388,200,0,GET,/de fault.asp::$DATA 10.0.0.5,-     ,02/Jul/1998,11:26:07,W3SVC,SERVER1,10.0.0.2,163,123,304,0,GET,/defa ult.asp::$DATA 10.0.0.5,-     ,02/Jul/1998,11:54:04,W3SVC,SERVER1,10.0.0.2,163,12219,200,0,GET,/de fault.asp::$DATA

Keywords: kbhowto KB197464

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