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Black Hat Asia Microsoft will prevent Windows Server from authenticating RDP clients that have not been patched to address a security flaw that can be exploited by miscreants to hijack systems and laterally move across a network.The bug, CVE-2018-0886, was fixed in March's Patch Tuesday software update, and involves Microsoft's implementation of its Credential Security Support Provider protocol (CredSSP). A miscreant-in-the-middle on a corporate network can abuse the flaw to send arbitrary commands to a server to execute while masquerading as a legit user or admin.From there, lateral movement through an intranet becomes possible, and that’s just the sort of...

Microsoft has announced that Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is coming to Windows Server.Microsoft's adding it to Windows Server for the same reasons it added it to Windows: it wants developers to have whatever tools they prefer at their disposal.Sysadmins are also on Redmond's mind, it says. “If you’re a server engineer that needs to run node.js, Ruby, Python, Perl, Bash scripts or other tools that expect Linux behaviors, environment or filesystem-layout, the ability to install and run Linux with WSL expands the tools at your disposal on Windows Server.”Redmond snuck WSL into Windows Server Insider Build 16237 without including...

Microsoft's revealed the first fruits of its plan to deliver twice-yearly updates to Windows Server by revealing the first-ever Insider build of the OS.Available here for users who register with a corporate Active Directory credential, Windows Server Insider Preview Build 16237 adds plenty of features that emphasises Microsoft's current mania for microservices, software-defined-everything and containers.Among the additions The Register imagines users may find interesting are new features to let Hyper-V VMs access non-volatile memory, improved networking between containers and various optimisations that reduce the size of Windows Core by a fifth. Windows Nano Server is also smaller, as it's excised...

Want to use Nano Server? Software Assurance is non-optional Microsoft has released details of how Windows Server 2016 will be released and maintained, and as with Windows 10 it includes a "Windows as a service" model of frequent operating system updates. Windows Server 2016 will be launched at the company's Ignite conference, which runs from September 26 to 30 in Atlanta, Georgia. As with the current release, there will be three editions: Datacenter, Standard and Essentials. Several things are new, though. One is that Windows Server 2016 will be priced and licensed per core, rather than per physical processor. Another...

"We put in more, so you'll pay by the core" Microsoft looks to be moving to per-core licences, rather than per-CPU licences, for Windows Server 2016. "Directions on Microsoft" chap Wes Miller tweeted links to a "Pricing and licensing FAQ" for Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Standard and Datacenter Editions. Dated December 2015, the meat of the document offers this description of Redmond's future licensing plan: The licensing of Datacenter and Standard Edition will move from processors to physical cores, which aligns licensing of private and public cloud to a consistent currency of cores and simplifies licensing across...

Summary: Microsoft officials confirm the company will deliver the second tech preview of Windows Server 2016 in May. It's been months -- six, in fact -- since Microsoft released a new test build of its next version of Windows Server. Last we heard from company officials, Microsoft planned to deliver its second test build some time in the spring of 2015. That was after the Windows Server team decided to delay the release of the next version of server until 2016, and to hold off on releasing a second public test build of it at the start of 2015, as...