'Secret question' flaw could have let attackers reset passwords.
Microsoft patched a hole in it's .Net Passport identity management service last night after a security researcher disclosed a potentially serious flaw that could enable attackers to hijack Passport accounts. The vulnerability was in the code for a "Secret Question" feature that helped users who had forgotten their Passport password, according to a message posted by Victor Manuel Alvarez Castro, who identified himself as a security consultant.
Some Passport accounts that were created before the Secret Question feature was implemented in August 1999 contained "bad data" in the Secret Question field, according to Jeff Jones, senior director of Trustworthy Computing Security at Microsoft. That data enabled knowledgeable attackers to circumvent the Secret Question feature and reset the password for another Passport user's account, he said.
News source: PCWorld
