Remote Admin Can Access a File for Which Everyone Has No Access

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51
• Microsoft Internet Information Server version 1.0

SYMPTOMS

An administrator from a remote client running a browser that supports NTLM authentication is able to access a file for which 'everyone' has no access.

Example:

The file \inetsrv\wwwroot\samples\disclaim.htm has permissions set for everyone as no access. The Server is configured for Anonymous Authentication and Windows NT Challenge/Response Authentication. A remote client running the browser can do NTLM authentication. Access the url http://IIS-Server/samples/disclaim.htm

Internet Information Server IIS will let you view the file after a sequence of NTLM challenge/response messages, if you are an administrator on the server computer.

If the user logged on to the remote client is not an administrator on the server, then access is denied. Also, if you run the browser locally on the IIS computer while logged on as an administrator and try to access the same URL, you get the correct error message:

   Error: Access is Denied.

RESOLUTION

Obtain the fix referenced below, or upgrade to Windows NT 4.0.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.51. This problem was corrected in the latest Windows NT 3.51 U.S. Service Pack. 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