Understanding the Dangers of
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Traffic
Of all the protocols on the Internet today, none has gotten
more of a bad rap than the Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
protocol. RPC is a favorite protocol for programmers
because it allows for a high degree of functionality and ease
of use. Along with these powerful capabilities, however,
come powerful risks. RPC was directly responsible for many
of the more common and destructive exploits to traverse
the Internet, including the notorious Blaster virus.
RPC exploits and security issues have caused many organizations
to severely restrict RPC communications, which has
had the unintended effect of diminishing end user productivity.
A better, more intelligent method of allowing secured
RPC access was necessary.
414 CHAPTER 15 Securing RPC Traffic
Fortunately, ISA Server 2006??™s advanced application-layer filtering abilities enable organizations
to take back control over their RPC communications, restricting RPC traffic to
conform to only specific types of requests and reducing the overall threat inherent in the
services. These types of capabilities position ISA as an excellent gateway product to protect
networks not only from external traffic but from internal RPC exploits and viruses as well.
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