XP Service Pack 2 is out

<< FirstOnScene, Version 1.1 | Home | SwiftVets Fire Back >>

XP Service Pack 2 is out

I'm downloading Service Pack 2 for Windows XP as we speak, from MSDN.

Print | posted @ Friday, August 06, 2004 8:01 PM

Comments on this entry:

# re: XP Service Pack 2 is out

by Mixa at 8/11/2004 1:22 PM

yeah? but it breaks NMAP

Date: 8/11/2004 12:31:23 -0700
From: Fyodor <fyodor@insecure.org>
To: nmap-hackers@insecure.org
Subject: Windows XP SP2 incompatible with Nmap All headers
This is just a heads-up that most Nmap functionality will not work on
the just-released Microsoft Windows SP2. Why? Microsoft apparently
broke it on purpose! When an Nmap user asked MS why security tools
such as Nmap broke, MS responded[1]:

"We have removed support for TCP sends over RAW sockets in SP2.
We surveyed applications and found the only apps using this on XP were
people writing attack tools."

I don't know why they consider Nmap an "attack tool", particularly
when they recommend it on some of their own pages[2]. Shrug.
Removing SP2 re-enables the functionality and causes Nmap to work
again. Many problems unrelated to Nmap have been found with SP2 as
well[3], though it does some welcome security improvements for people
stuck on that platform.

I will work on this if I get time, but am currently busy rewriting the
core port scanning engine for the next version of Nmap. It is much
faster, offers much better multiple-host parallelization, and provides
other long-desired features such as completion time estimates. If
someone finds a solution to this SP2 problem, please send a patch. It
may not be too hard, as Nmap supports operating systems such as Win95
that didn't have raw socket support in the first place.

Cheers,
Fyodor

[1] http://seclists.org/lists/nmap-dev/2004/Apr-Jun/0077.html
[2] http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/security/tools.asp
[3] http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=23905071

# re: XP Service Pack 2 is out

by Mixa at 8/14/2004 11:48 PM

And does not protect against advance port scan.

http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=76