IE Flaw Affects Windows XP SP2 Systems
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The &quot;highly criticial&quot; vulnerability affects Internet Explorer 5.01, 5.5, and 6 on fully patched PCs running either Windows XP SP1 or the newer SP2.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers have discovered a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer, and they've released code that could be used to attack users of Microsoft Corp.'s popular browser. The vulnerability is similar to a bug thatÂ Microsoft patched last month in a multimedia component of Internet Explorer, according to Vincent Hwang, a group product manager with Symantec's Security Response team. Though a sample exploit of the vulnerability was posted Wednesday by hackers on the xsec.org Web site, Symantec has yet to see the code used in any attacks, according to Hwang. To take advantage of the exploit code, attackers would first need to trick users into viewing a maliciously encoded Web page, but they could then run unauthorized code on a victim's computer. It is unclear right now which versions of Windows and Internet Explorer are affected by the vulnerability. Researchers at Secunia said they were able to create a "fully working" exploit for the latest version of Windows XP running Internet Explorer 6. Windows 2000 users are also vulnerable, Secunia said. Microsoft security researchers were unavailable to comment on the issue, but a spokesman for the company's public relations agency said that the matter was under investigation. Symantec calls the bug "critical," andÂ Secunia rates the issue as "highly critical," its most severe rating. The xsec.org hackers referred to their code as a 0day, meaning an exploit for a previously undisclosed vulnerability. But one well-known hacker said the flaw was not difficult to find using publicly available security tools, such as the AxMan ActiveX fuzzing software. "Calling it 0day is a stretch," said HD Moore, the head of the Metasploit project, via e-mail. Moore wrote an automated ActiveX testing tool called AxMan that uncovered a handful of IE bugs, including the one exploited by on xsec.org. Although Moore recently launched a project called the Month of Browser Bugs, in which he disclosed a new browser vulnerability every day for the month of July, he said he had refrained from disclosing this particular vulnerability. "This is one of the many exploitable bugs that can be discovered using AxMan and one of the few that I didn't include in Month of Browser bugs due to the ease of exploitation," he said. "I still have three or four left in IE that have similar impact." This is the second unpatched flaw that Microsoft is looking at patching right now. Earlier this month, attackers began exploiting a vulnerability in the company's Word software.
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Timing of viruses that exploit a flaw in IE could be sign that creators are trying to unsettle Microsoft.
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Ziff Davis - Security researchers have uncovered a spoofing flaw in Internet Explorer that could allow a scammer to display a fake Web site with all the attributes of a genuine, secure site.
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A fix for a serious flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been released early to combat escalating attacks.
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InfoWorld - A security researcher has found a security bug that could be attacked in Internet Explorer. Mozilla said it plans to patch the problem in its next Firefox software update.
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Microsoft on Wednesday released an update to Internet Explorer (IE) to fix a security flaw that was discovered a month ago and has since been exploited to attack users.
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Some say Win XP SP2 enhancements cause conflicts, don't protect as claimed.
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Security researchers inspecting a new update to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP found two software flaws that could allow virus writers and malicious hackers to sidestep new security features in the operating system.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers areÂ intensifying their attacks on Internet Explorer users, increasing the chances that Microsoft Corp. will patch a critical flaw in the software ahead of its regularly scheduled Oct. 10 security update. On Sunday, hackers released sample code showing how to exploit the IE flaw on a fully patched version of Windows XP, a move that security experts believe will step up the attacks.Â Criminals have been taking advantage of a previously unknown vulnerability in cPanel Inc. software, widely used by Web hosting providers, to install the IE malware on Web servers. The Microsoft bug has to do with the way IE processes Web-based graphics code written in the Vector Markup Language (VML). It wasÂ first reported Monday Sept. 18 by researchers at Sunbelt Software Inc., who found that attackers were exploiting this vulnerability on a number ofÂ pornographic Web sites. Late last week, attackers started spreading their attack code by taking advantage of a second flaw in cPanel's Web hosting administration software. This product is used by Web hosting providers to give their customers an easy way to administer their Web sites. Hackers were able to exploit this problem to gain access to servers at hosting provider HostGator.com LLC and began adding malicious VML exploit code to the Web pages of HostGator's clients, starting late Thursday. In fact, the attackers had used the cPanel flaw to gain control of HostGator's servers weeks before the VML vulnerability was disclosed, according to Brent Oxley, CEO of HostGator.com, based in Boca Raton, Florida. "They took control of as many servers as they could and they were building an army." Oxley said."They waited idly for a month and when the Microsoft exploit came out that's when they launched the attack." HostGator servers are used to host about 500,000 Web sites, but not all were compromised. Oxley estimated that "thousands" were, however, and said that a number of other hosting providers have also fallen victim to the cPanel attack. The cPanel flaw has now been patched and HostGator.com customers are no longer serving up the VML exploits, but security experts wonder how widespread the cPanel compromise has been. "It's a little worrisome that these hackers appeared to be targeting that piece of software," said Rich Miller, an analyst with Netcraft Inc. "It's very common among large hosting companies." Whether or not these latest developments are worrisome to Microsoft is unclear. The company declined to comment on the matter Monday, referring reporters to aÂ Friday blog postingÂ by Microsoft Security Response Center Operations Manager Scott Deacon in which he said that his company was increasingly confident on its ability to release an early patch.Â  "Thereâs been some confusion about that, that somehow attacks are dramatic and widespread," Deacon wrote Friday. "Weâre just not seeing that from our data, and our Microsoft Security Response Alliance partners arenât seeing that at all either," he said. "Of course, that could change at any moment," Deacon added. Sunbelt Software agreed that the VML bug has not yet been widely exploited, but Sunbelt Vice President of Research and Development Eric Sites predicted that Microsoft would release an early patch. "I think this week will be a lot more active because of the new proof-of-concept codes coming out," he said. On Monday, security researchers reported that attackers were staring to send out spam in hopes of luring victims to malicious Web sites. One attack tells victims that they've received a "Yahoo! Greeting Card," and invites them to click on a link. The link takes the victim to a Web site that installs code that collects information on the victim's online activity. More information on this attack can be foundÂ here. As a temporary workaround, Microsoft's has advised users to unregister the dll used to render VML images. Information on how to do this, along with otherÂ possible workarounds for the problem can be found here. Although it is not recommended by Microsoft, aÂ patch for the bug was released by a group of security researchers on Friday. ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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Recent updates to IE contain a serious regression that leaves systems once more vulnerable to a flaw fixed more than two years ago, according to security researchers.
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Two recently disclosed vulnerabilities that affect Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista could let hackers nab user data.
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A variant of a bug that uses an Internet Explorer 6 vulnerability exposes Microsoft Windows systems patched with Service Pack 2. A security researcher claims to have crafted a simpler version of a bug first identified in late October.
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Just one day after Microsoft delayed the delivery of its Windows XP Service Pack 2 (XP SP2) update for the Professional Edition, a German research firm announced the discovery of two security flaws in the application.
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Security researchers are warning of another pair of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.&#39;s Internet Explorer browser affecting users on fully patched Windows XP Service Pack 2 systems.
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A vulnerability, which has been detected in Microsoft&#39;s flagship Internet Explorer, can be exploited by malicious users to conduct cross-site scripting attacks.
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Part of the recently-released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP was a slew of long-awaited updates to Internet Explorer. Along with patches for the browser, SP2 also included features such as the ability to block