CVE-2005-1980

published 2005-10-12

CVE-2005-1980: Distributed Transaction Controller in Microsoft Windows allows remote servers to cause a denial of service (MSDTC service hang) via a crafted Transaction…

Priority P4 28 medium 5 CVSS 2.0

AV N AC L Au N C N I N A P

EXPLOIT

Distributed Transaction Controller in Microsoft Windows allows remote servers to cause a denial of service (MSDTC service hang) via a crafted Transaction Internet Protocol (TIP) message that causes DTC to repeatedly connect to a target IP and port number after an error occurs, aka the "Distributed TIP Vulnerability."

Affected

4 ranges

Vendor	Product	Version range	Fixed in
microsoft	windows_2003_server	—	—
microsoft	windows_2003_server	—	—
microsoft	windows_2003_server	—	—
microsoft	windows_2003_server	—	—

Detection & IOCs extracted from sources · hover to see the quote

port 3372↗

bytes↗

05 00 0b 03 10 00 00 00 48 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 d0 16 d0 16 00 00 00 00

bytes↗

05 00 00 83 10 00 00 00 2c 05 00 00 01 00 00 00 04 05 00 00 00 00 07 00

• → The exploit targets the MSDTC service via a crafted TIP (Transaction Internet Protocol) message sent over TCP port 3372 (0xd016). Monitor for repeated outbound connection attempts from the MSDTC service (msdtc.exe) to arbitrary IPs/ports following an initial inbound connection, which is the DoS loop behaviour described. ↗
• → The exploit sends a two-stage payload: first a DCE/RPC bind packet (peer0_0, 72 bytes, starting 05 00 0b 03) then a large request packet (peer0_1, 1024 bytes, starting 05 00 00 83) containing 0xCC NOP-sled padding. Detect DCE/RPC packets with these specific headers on port 3372 targeting MSDTC. ↗
• → The malicious DCE/RPC request packet (peer0_1) contains a large run of 0xCC bytes (INT3 / NOP-sled equivalent) starting at offset ~0x80. Detect oversized MSDTC/TIP packets with repeated 0xCC byte sequences as a shellcode indicator. ↗
• → The exploit uses the MSDTC interface UUID e0 0c 6b 90 0b c7 67 10 b3 17 00 dd 01 06 62 da in the DCE/RPC bind and request. Detect DCE/RPC traffic binding to this specific interface UUID on port 3372. ↗

• · The exploit author notes a low real-world success rate for code execution (~5/10+ boxes in testing), and describes it primarily as a DoS/POC. Detection focus should be on the DoS loop behaviour (MSDTC repeatedly connecting outbound) rather than assuming reliable RCE. ↗

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