Remote Password Change Works Incorrectly to Down-Level Server (166822)

SYMPTOMS

When users attempt to manually change their passwords on a down-level LAN Manager or LAN Server and a minimum password length policy is set, the passwords are changed even if the new password has fewer than the required minimum number of characters. This occurs regardless of whether users make their attempts through the "net user/password" command from the command prompt, or from the Change Password option in the Windows NT Security dialog box (use CTRL+ALT+DELETE to get this dialog box).

CAUSE

When a computer running Windows NT attempts to change the password, it first attempts to create a pipe to the remote server. This action will fail, forcing the computer to fall back on an older 16-bit API. The older API used to change the password is not properly formatting the correct length of the new password being sent to the remote server. The end result is that a new password of the same length as the old password is created. As long as the old password was longer than the minimum password length policy, the new password is changed regardless of its length, including if set to NULL.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

To resolve this problem, obtain the following fix for Windows NT 3.51:

The fix should have the following time stamp:

   4/30/97 9:49PM                  215,968 Netapi32.dll (Intel)
   4/30/97 9:52PM                  322,832 Netapi32.dll (Alpha)
   4/30/97 9:50PM                  339,216 Netapi32.dll (Mips)

NOTE: Service Pack 3 must be applied to Windows NT 3.51 prior to applying this fix.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.51. A supported fix is now available, but has not been fully regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.