You need to read
http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-026.asp
An exploit for this vulnerability is already being used and is fairly
well publicized. The port scans and attacks have increased
dramatically in the alst few days (just look at the number of people
posting to newsgroups with this problem). Their are two versions of
the exploit I am aware of. One gives an attacker full control of your
machine, the other is a denial-of-service attack. Both disable the
RPC service when utilitized (thus the error messages you are seeing).
RPC (or is it DCOM?) uses ports 135, 139, and 445. All are crucial to
basic windows functionality so when it's suggested to "disable" those
ports, forget about it. A firewall is what you need. Or at least a
Cable/DSL router since it NAT's your ip address. That's what I use at
home, therefore making port 135 completely inaccessible from the
Internet. In the meantime, install the patch Microsoft recommends in
the bulletin above.
In case you can't access the bulletin, you can download the patch
directly at
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...e-b7a52a983f01/WindowsXP-KB823980-x86-ENU.exe
You should only install this patch on Windows XP machines. 2000 and
NT4 have different patches. Windows ME, Windows 95, and Windows 98
are not affected by this vulnerability (they have their own set of
issues...
.
Benny
http://www.lifeway.com
