Question

Why does HTTP request verb OPTIONS * cause w3wp.exe go to 100% cpu utilization?

Asked by: WHenry

This is my first question in this forum.  

For the past two weeks I have noticed that w3wp.exe on IIS6 goes to 100% CPU usage forever when HTTP request with verb "options *" is being processed.  Anyone know what could cause this?

I can recycle the w3wp.exe process and the problem goes away until someone issues a HTTP request using the verb OPTIONS *  again.  An HTTP request using the verb OPTIONS / works just fine.
I am running IIS6 on Window Server 2003 with all of the patches.

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Asked On
2009-08-06 at 16:28:34ID24633369
Topic

Web Servers

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2009-08-07 at 05:10:01ID: 25041818

is there any reason why you have OPTIONS enabled? disable it

 

by: WHenryPosted on 2009-08-07 at 07:45:07ID: 25043238

all of the website on the server only support GET, HEAD, POST, and TRACE.  How do I disable OPTIONS?

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2009-08-07 at 07:59:22ID: 25043418

never seen IIS, sorry
but IIRC URLScan can do it

 

by: wolfman007Posted on 2009-08-10 at 06:14:36ID: 25059598

You could check to see it WebDAV is enabled on your website and turn it off. I have seen on some websites that turning off WebDAV means that it is not necessary to inspect the verbs.

IIS 6.0 allows administrators to explicitly enable or disable WebDAV. Since this action affects the WebDAV executable code directly, it is not necessary to inspect the HTTP verb that is associated with each request

see

UrlScan Security Tool
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/cc242650.aspx

Alternatively you could block requests containing the OPTIONS verb.

In IIS 6.0 you can block verbs using URLScan using the DenyVerbs

see

Using URLScan
http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/473/using-urlscan

In IIS 7.0 you can block verbs using Request Filtering

How to deny an HTTP verb
1) On the taskbar, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2) In the Connections pane, go to the connection, site, application, or directory for which you want to modify your request filtering settings.
3) In the Home pane, double-click Request Filtering.
4) In the Request Filtering pane, click the HTTP verbs tab, then click Deny Verb... in the Actions pane.
5) In the Deny Verb dialog box, enter the HTTP verb that you wish to block, and then click OK.

see

Verbs <verbs>
http://www.iis.net/ConfigReference/system.webServer/security/requestFiltering/verbs

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2009-08-10 at 22:46:44ID: 25066413

hmm, so my guess about URLScan was the right one ... (just for the record)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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