vPro functionality with Real-Time System Manager and Task Server does not work with special characters

Products

• Real-Time System Manager

Issue/Introduction

vPro functionality with Real-Time System Manager and Task Server does not work with special characters. If the vPro password set on the local client machine for the Admin account contains language special characters, vPro AMT functions against targets will fail.

Unable to authenticate.

Cause

There is a known issue within Intel AMT where it does not properly handle certain language characters in the password.

Environment

Real-Time System Manager (RTSM) 7.x, 8.x

Note:
Out of Band Management Solution is End-Of-Life (EOL) by now and removed from the product in ITMS 7.6 release. This was our implementation of Intel SBS server for configuring vPro.

Now you should configure vPro machines out of ITMS scope - i.e. by using Intel product.
Then, you can use vPro-enabled machines with Real-Time System Management (RTSM) Solution that we still support.
See KB 163621 "In ITMS 7.6, 8.0, and above, what support do we provide for Intel vPro AMT?"

Resolution

To resolve the issue, the password must be set to only include standard characters.

The MEBx password requirement is below.  For example the Turkish special character is NOT a 7-Bit ASCII non alpha-numeric character, which is why it fails.

The default password is admin and is identical on all newly deployed platforms. When the IT administrator first enters the Intel MEBx configuration menu with the default password, they are required to change the password to maintain security before any feature can be used. The new preferred password should meet the following requirements for strong passwords:

1. Passwords must be a minimum of 8 characters and a maximum of 32 characters in length.
2. Password Complexity – The password must include:
   • At least one digit character („0‟, „1‟, … „9‟)
   • At least one 7-bit ASCII non alpha-numeric character (Example: e.g. '!', '$', ';', etc.). Note that the underscore “_” is considered an alpha-numeric character in the context of passwords) excluding „:‟, „,‟ and „”‟ characters.
   • A mixture of lower-case letters (Example: 'a', 'b', 'z', etc.) and upper case letters (Example: 'A', 'B', …'Z', etc.).