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             AUSCERT External Security Bulletin Redistribution

                    ESB-2001.436 -- CIAC BULLETIN M-005
    Office XP Error Reporting May Send Sensitive Documents to Microsoft
                              19 October 2001

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        AusCERT Security Bulletin Summary
        ---------------------------------

Product:                Office XP
                        Internet Explorer version 5 and later
Vendor:                 Microsoft
Operating System:       Windows
Impact:                 Reduced Security
Access Required:        Remote

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             __________________________________________________________

                       The U.S. Department of Energy
                     Computer Incident Advisory Center
                           ___  __ __    _     ___
                          /       |     /_   /
                          \___  __|__  /     \___
             __________________________________________________________

                             INFORMATION BULLETIN

      Office XP Error Reporting May Send Sensitive Documents to Microsoft

October 15, 2001 20:00 GMT                                        Number M-005
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:       Microsoft Office XP and Internet Explorer version 5 and later 
               are configured to automatically send debugging information to 
               Microsoft in the event of a program crash. The debugging 
               information includes a memory dump which may contain all or 
               part of the document being viewed or edited. This debug message 
               potentially could contain sensitive, private information. 
PLATFORM:      Microsoft Office XP 
               Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and later 
               Microsoft Windows XP
               Microsoft has indicated that this will be a feature of all new 
               Microsoft products. 
DAMAGE:        Sensitive or private information could inadvertently be sent to 
               Microsoft. Some simple testing of the feature found document 
               information in one message out of three. 
SOLUTION:      Apply the registry changes listed in this bulletin to disable 
               the automatic sending of debugging information. If you are 
               working with sensitive information and a program asks to send 
               debugging information to Microsoft, you should click No. 
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY  The risk is MEDIUM/LOW. Sensitive documents could be sent to 
ASSESSMENT:    Microsoft. 
______________________________________________________________________________
LINKS: 
 CIAC BULLETIN:      http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/m-005.shtml 
 PATCHES:            Office XP: 
                     http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/office/UnWatsonXP.reg 
                     IE: 
                     http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/office/UnWatsonIE6.reg 
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