IIS Server Handling of URLs Using "\", "<", and ">"
Article ID: 155052
Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Internet Information Server 1.0
This article was previously published under Q155052
SYMPTOMS
Web clients that send Universal Resource Locator (URL) map requests using
the backward slash (\) as a relational specifier can point to any file on
the disk. Web clients that send Common Gateway Interface (CGI) requests
using either of the angle brackets (< or >) as a redirection specifier can
overwrite a file on the disk.
CAUSE
Internet Information Server 1.0 (IIS) did not handle the backward slash (\)
in the same way as the forward slash (/); consequently, URL map requests
using '\' could be used to specify any file in the hierarchical file system
structure on the server.
IIS CGI processing did not disable the use of either of the angle brackets
(< or >) as redirection operators; consequently, CGI requests can overwrite
existing files by redirecting console output to a filename on the server.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in IIS version 1.0.
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):
Additional query words: prodiis
Keywords: kbnetwork KB155052