Software Engineering Institute

ProCheckup has reported a vulnerability in iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise Edition and Netscape Enterprise Server running on Windows NT based operating systems. The iPlanet and NES servers provide a feature called Web Publisher. According to NES documentation:

Netscape Enterprise Server 4.0 clients can use Web Publisher to collaborate on projects by directly accessing, editing, and managing file on remote servers. Web Publisher provides sophisticated features for server clients, such as file management, editing and publishing, and access control.
The Web Publisher wp-force-auth command initiates an HTTP Basic Authentication dialog. An attacker may make repeated calls to wp-force-auth in an attempt to guess valid user credentials. Well-known user credentials, such as Administrator or Guest on Windows systems, or root or nobody on Unix/Linux systems, may be subjected to brute-force attacks. While the exposure created by this vulnerability is no greater than that of any other brute force attack, this vulnerability may represent an unexpected avenue of attack.

An unauthenticated remote attacker may make repeated attempts to guess valid user credentials.

Disable Web Publishing
iPlanet recommends disabling Web Publisher and Directory Indexing on external servers:

http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/40/ag/esapuirf.htm#1005372

Another method for disabling Web Publisher is to use a Netscape Server Application Programming Interface (NSAPI) Server Application Functions (SAF):

http://knowledgebase.iplanet.com/ikb/kb/articles/7761.html

Filter HTTP TrafficIt may be possible to use an application layer filter to detect and block HTTP requests containing the ?wp-force-auth command.