Outpost not blocking traffic on Windows shutdown

It has been discovered that during Windows shutdown, Outpost does not block traffic allowing unsolicited incoming traffic to access systems for a short period of time. For more details, please view the Security Advisory at the Outpost forum.

 

Hi Paranoid2000,

It appears to allow traffic for a short period of time at Windows startup as well. The screenshot shows a full cycle from shutdown through startup.

Nick

 

Thanks for the info - were you using a static IP address or one assigned via DHCP? Does changing the assignment method (static/dynamic) make any difference? Finally, could you list what other security software you have and whether it was installed after Outpost?

 

Assigned via DHCP, but, for all practical purposes, that address will not change until I reboot the router. I will play with my router settings this evening after work and see if anything changes. Along with Outpost, I only run Ghost Security Suite (AD+RD) and Proxomitron as a service. Proxo was installed before Outpost, while GSS was installed after Outpost.

Nick

 

Thanks Paranoid - Please let us know on this forum when an update (fix) is available. I seldom visit the Outpost forum.

Question - I assume setting Outpost to "stop all" before shutting down wouln't help or would it?

 

Hi G1111,

I am getting the same results for the shutdown/startup cycle after setting Outpost to "Stop All".

Nick

 

Disabling the local area connection before shutdown doesn't help..?

 

Nick - so if i understand your response by setting Outpost to "stop all" it does not make any difference when shutting down. It is still not blocking traffic and is vulnerable for a few seconds.

 

That is correct...at both startup and shutdown.

 

Thanks Nick - I am behind a NAT enabled router so I am not concerned. Little surprised though that this occured in the last two versions.

 

Not an expert, but I have been a bit concerned about how the Outpost service shuts down over the past few versions. Two of the past three versions show unexpected service termination errors at shutdown in the System event log. Another version caused an obvious hang at shutdown on three systems for me, but no event log errors. To double-check for other conflicts, I always verify the behavior on clean installs of XP. It would be interesting now to see if the startup aspect existed with previous versions.

Nick

 

Hi
I read on the Outpostforum that you should disconnect from the internet by unplugging cables or network cards, but the method Get mentioned is easier...is it just as safe?

 

Hi Nick .
A fix is already in the beta now in use . Working thus far . As for a public release ....Unsure at this point . Seems fairly stable for most as I can see .

 

For Windows shutdown, yes - for Windows startup, it depends - if Windows reactivates that connection on startup, then it would not be secure but if you have to reactivate it manually, then it should be OK.

 

Sounds good...thanks for the info.

Nick

 

Ah great, thanks!