Zone Alarm, Windows DNS issues

[digip]

(If you are a windows user with ZoneAlarm installed you may want to read this.)

I was working on some things today trying to create a bootable USB key that dual boots UBCD4Win + Backtrack3(Still working on it) and after a reboot, noticed I could not get online with ZoneAlarm running. If ZoneAlrm is not running, the internet works fine. So what the hell was going on?

At first I thought something got borked, but couldn't figure out how, as my USB key wouldn't boot, so no files were read from it after reboot. I then uninstalled and reinstalled ZA just to be safe. Same problem. Then I unsintalled, deleted all related files, mounted the registry hive offline and deleted all ZA keys, etc, etc. Reinstalled, still, nothing.

I was about to format my HDD becasue I thought I had somehow gotten some malware or corrupted my HDD in some way, but couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. It was pissing me off pretty bad at this point, but I decided to check the all mighty google before taking a sledge hammer to my box.

Turns out the latest MS patch for a DNS vulnerability causes a problem with ZA (and probably some other 3rd party Software and Firewalls).

There are 3 methods to fix(or band aid) this issue temporarily:

1, unistnall the patch and be forever vulnerable.

2, set ZA to medium security, making you vulnerable.

3, Download a Version of ZA that has yet to be published on the main site and take your chances with unfinished software. (They are working to get this fixed so a finished version may be out in a day or two)

Anyone who is having the same issue, go here for a ZA update:

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/pre...ccessIssue.html

Hopefully you don't go through what I did trying to figure out what the problem was, and I can save someone the headache of trying to figure it out.

[deleted]

I think they have released an Update. I just got a popup for a "Critical Update" from ZoneAlaram.

[Cripter]

Woke up the other day,turned the laptop on (with ZoneAlarm installed)

And I couldn't get onto firefox or MSN unless I turned it off because of the DNS problem.

At first I thought it could have been my usb fingerprint reader I've only just brought, but once I uninstalled that, ZoneAlarm was the only thing left to shutdown.

At least I know now.

Thanks digip :D

[Joerg]

Does this firewall block dns requests? Or analyse its traffic and then blocking it if its unknown traffic?

[geekdba]

Heard about this the other day, this link says it is because of a microsoft update

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7499260.stm

Hope this helps, it says about setting the Zonealarm to medium security

[Sparda]

Does this firewall block dns requests? Or analyse its traffic and then blocking it if its unknown traffic?

Microsoft 'fixed' some thing that 'broke' some thing else, that's all it was. ZA have released an update for the product to fix the problem.

My recommendation: Don't use ZA, it's almost as bad as a Norton product. If you want a software firewall I would recommend Sunbelt Personal Firewall (used to be called Keirio). I haven't used it in a long time so it too might also be like a Norton product.

[Joerg]

Mhm, there are a lot of fixes after this security announcement concerning dns.

[digip]

Microsoft 'fixed' some thing that 'broke' some thing else, that's all it was. ZA have released an update for the product to fix the problem.

My recommendation: Don't use ZA, it's almost as bad as a Norton product. If you want a software firewall I would recommend Sunbelt Personal Firewall (used to be called Keirio). I haven't used it in a long time so it too might also be like a Norton product.

I have been using ZA for about 4 or 5 years now and would recomend it to anyone, although it does take a while to learn how to use it properly. Even novice users should be able to figure out how to use it. It is by far a much superior product to anything Symantec or even McAffee have to offer.

The only part of ZA I don't like is their spam program which is maid my Mail Frontier(Which is now a sonic wall product). I disable it through ZA anyway, so it's not that big a deal. It's just bundled with the suite version of ZA, and can be uninstalled later if you don't want to use it.