		Network Security

NDS Faulted?

The Novell Directory Service (NDS) which is the foundation upon which Novell’s NetWare Network Operating System is built is claimed to be flawed. The Pandora Project has released details of instances where what it claims supposed secure NetWare communications were transmitted in an unsecure fashion.

NMRC's Pandora Project
Database Cracking Tools
Packet Signatures Spoofed
Novell's Response
Novell Security Information

NMRC's Pandora Project

From an organisation calling itself the Nomad Mobile Research Centre (NMRC). They have published a set of tools for hacking the Netware 3 Bindery. The Pandora Project is aimed at probing the Novell Directory Service (NDS).

The project has been running for some years now.

Database Cracking Tools

There is a set of brute force tools for cracking passwords once the NDS databases have been accessed. Access requires access to the File Server console. (So, keep it under lock and key AND keep the RCONSOLE password secure.)

They use exhaustive search (brute force) to test all possible passwords against all the passwords in the database. They use the same algorithm to encrypt the passwords that Novell does.

Packet Signatures Spoofed

This is the critical claim. If this is true and cannot be fixed then NDS’s security is badly flawed.

Packet signatures are a way of ensuring that a communications session between two systems is not subverted.

NMRC showed that if the Packet Signature levels are not set correctly at the Client and the File Server, hackers can gain access to the network resources by forging packets and using these forged packets to make themselves equivalent to other users - usually Admin.

Packet Spoofing requires connection to the LAN or Intranet which is being hacked. This usually means physical access to the building in which it is housed.

Novell's Response

NMRC and Novell have been in communication about this situation. Novell acknowledges the situation and says that setting Signature Levels to 3 at the File Server and 1 at the Client AND installing Service Pack 5B, released in 1997, prevents the hacks. Service Pack 5B is required before Novell will provide Technical Support and is listed on their Minimum Patch List.

Novell Security Information

http://developer.novell.com/research/topical/security.htm How to set up security-aware NetWare servers.