CVE-2005-1982

An attacker positioned as a man-in-the-middle (MITM) between a client and a domain controller can intercept PKINIT smart card authentication traffic [ref_id=1]. By exploiting the unknown protocol weakness, the attacker can obtain information and spoof the server to the client. The attack requires the attacker to have network access to the communication path and for PKINIT smart card authentication to be in use [ref_id=1].

The advisory does not specify exact functions or file paths. The vulnerability resides in the PKINIT protocol implementation used during smart card authentication between a client and a domain controller in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 [ref_id=1].

The security update modifies the PKINIT protocol handling to close the information disclosure and spoofing vector [ref_id=1]. Additionally, the update introduces an optional registry key, RequireAsChecksum, which provides extra protection against potential PKINIT-related attacks [ref_id=1]. The advisory notes that both domain controllers and domain clients must install the update to fully protect against this vulnerability [ref_id=1].