RSA SecurID Cookie Expires Frequently, and Clients Are Repeatedly Prompted to Authenticate (829893)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 SP1
  • Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 Feature Pack 1

SYMPTOMS

Assume that you publish a Web site in Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1) by using the following configuration:
  • You install the Web filter for authentication for RSA SecurID from Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 Feature Pack 1.

    -and-
  • You enable the Web access authentication set for your Web publishing rule, and then you click Cookies Expire If Not Used Within the Specified Time.
When users access the Web site, their sessions time out after about 1 minute (approximately 60 seconds), and they are repeatedly prompted to reauthenticate. The expiration time that appears in the Expiration Time box (by default, 15 minutes) on the RSA SecurID tab in the properties of the Web publishing rule is not enforced. This problem occurs even though the user is actively viewing the Web site.

RESOLUTION

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question. The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel. 
   Date         Time   Version            Size    File name
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   09-Oct-2003  20:51  3.0.1200.294      178,448  Mspadmin.exe     
   09-Oct-2003  20:51  3.0.1200.294      103,184  Msphlpr.dll      
   09-Oct-2003  20:51  3.0.1200.294       81,680  Sdisa.dll        
   09-Oct-2003  20:51  3.0.1200.294      392,976  W3proxy.exe      
   09-Oct-2003  20:51  3.0.1200.294      299,280  Wspsrv.exe
Note This hotfix also applies to the French, German, Spanish, and Japanese-language versions of ISA Server.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

RSA authentication is implemented in the following way in ISA Server 2000: When a user successfully logs on to the Web site, the user receives a SecurID cookie from ISA Server 2000. This cookie has an expiration time, and therefore, when the cookie expires, the client receives a SecurID logon page instead of the requested object. Sometimes this behavior may cause a problem. For example, ISA Server 2000 may return a logon page during the loading of an embedded image. To resolve this issue, an option is available to keep the user's SecurID cookie refreshed if it is frequently used. This is enabled by using the Cookies Expire If Not Used Within the Specified Time option on the RSA SecurID tab in the Web publishing rule properties. If this option is selected and the client is not idle for the specified time, ISA Server 2000 adds an updated cookie header to each client response. This functionality makes sure that the sequence of a client's requests (loading frames, embedded images, and others) will be successful after the client has successfully logged on to the Web site.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/25/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbQFE kbFirewall kbISAServ2000preSP2fix kbfix kbbug KB829893 kbAudITPRO
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