A flaw in the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) in many versions of Microsoft Windows has been discovered, and exploit code is circulating. For Windows 2000 servers, the exploit code allows the remote execution of malicious code. For other systems such as Windows Server 2003 and Windows X SP1, denial-of-service attacks are possible.
While the flaw could allow an attacker to take over a system, the exploit code, for now, only causes a system to shut down. The appearance of this exploit code, which has been published by the French Security Incident Response Team (FrSIRT), follows the private circulation of exploit code within days of MS05-051's appearance.
A patch is available, as is several workarounds. However, some administrators have reported problems installing the patch, which has caused dozens of customers to report compatibility problems.