SP2 rolled up a large number of fixes intended tighten the security of Windows XP, there was no explanation provided other than it was a security enhancement.

SP2 rolled up a large number of fixes intended tighten the security of Windows XP, there was no explanation provided other than it was a security enhancement. Ultimately the raw sockets thing had no real world impact on network attacks, the type of attacks raw sockets allowed were largely supplanted by then by simpler attacks in a distributed manner, as bandwidth allowed more of a brute force approach.