Windows SMBv3 Client/Server Denial of Service Vulnerability

A denial of service vulnerability exists in the way that the Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1 (SMBv3) protocol handles certain requests. An authenticated attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability against an SMB Server could cause the affected system to crash. An unauthenticated attacker could also exploit this this vulnerability against an SMB client and cause the affected system to crash.

To exploit the vulnerability against a server, an authenticated attacker could send a specially crafted packet to a targeted SMBv3 server. To exploit the vulnerability against a client, an unauthenticated attacker would need to configure a malicious SMBv3 server and convince a user to connect to it.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the SMBv3 protocol handles these specially crafted requests.