Post reply

Passwort encryption in iss-file

  • March 9, 2006 at 11:41 pm

    #90857

    Dear all,

    I'm trying to make an unattended installation of ms sql server 2000. Therefore I recorded an iss-file which stores all the information the installaiton need. In this iss-file, also the sa-domain-account-password is stored, BUT with encryption! So the problem is, when I start the installation with this iss-file, the sa-domain-account does always need the same password.

    Does somebody know which this password is encrypted?

    Hubert

  • March 10, 2006 at 1:36 am

    #625862

    you can always change this password afterwards, if that is your concern

  • March 10, 2006 at 2:58 am

    #625878

    yes I know, but that's not the point.

     

    If I want to install a new sql server with the iss-file, I always have to create a dedicated nt-domain-sa-account for this server. The password has to be set exactly like the one which I entered in the record-option for the iss-file. If you want to change the password, you have to do this twice: first in the ad, then on the server. Therefore it would be niche if I could enter the password in the iss-file. And for that, I need to know how this password is encrypted.

     

    I already could reveal this on http://www.ngssoftware.com (sorry I don't have the link anymore, but there is a pdf-file named tp--SQL2000.pdf)

    <quote>

    Network Sniffing

    When a user connects to an SQL Server and authenticates as an SQL login, as opposed to a Windows NT/2000 user, their login name and password are sent across the network wire in what is tantamount to clear text. The 'encryption' scheme used to hide the password is a simple bitwise XOR operation. The password is converted to a wide character format, or UNICODE, and each byte XOR'd with a constant fixed value of 0xA5. Of course, this is easy to work out because every second byte of the 'encrypted' password on the wire 0xA5 and we know that the password is in UNICODE with every second byte being a NULL and when any number is XOR'd with 0 (or NULL) the result is the same: 0x41 xor 0x00 = 0x41, 0xA5 xor 0x00 = 0xA5.

    <\quote>

    But I have now idea what is all about this unicode and XOR stuff !!

    Hubert

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply