Attackers targeting Microsoft Office Excel
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Software maker issues security advisory noting several versions of Office Excel contain vulnerabilities that attackers are targeting.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers have released attack code that exploits a critical vulnerability in Microsoft's Word software -- the thirdÂ such bugÂ to be disclosed in the past week. The proof of concept code was posted Tuesday on the Milw0rm.com Web site, making it widely available to the hacking community. It exploits a previously unreported bug in Word. Like the other recent Word bugs disclosed this past week, it could be used by attackers to run unauthorized software on a victim's computer, said David Marcus, security research and communications manager with McAfee Inc.'s Avert Labs Attackers have been using these Word exploits in extremely targeted attacks, where a small number of victims are sent an e-mail with a maliciously encoded Word document attached. The hackers useÂ social engineeringÂ techniques to try to trick the victim into opening the dangerous attachment. For example, in a recent Word attack, first reported Sunday, the malicious e-mail "was sent to a very high-profile company, directly to three people at the company," Marcus said. Microsoft is investigating reports of this latest Word bug, a spokesman for the company's public relations agency said. Though they are not being widely exploited, the unpatched Word vulnerabilities are causing some enterprises concern. At the Port of Seattle, for example, users are being cautioned and e-mail with Word attachments is getting a little more scrutiny, said Ernie Hayden, chief information security manager with the port. "We've done some blocking on our e-mail, and we've had dialogue with people with respect to what our expectations are," he said. Attacks on Microsoft's Office software have been on the rise for months now, said Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer with security vendor eEye Digital Security Inc. Office vulnerabilities were once released "on a monthly basis," he said. "Now we're at the point were it's almost daily." Still, publishing attack code ultimately works contrary to the interests of the bad guys, he added. "It's kind of disruptive, and it creates a panic," he said. "But all it does is make the industry focus and come up with a resolution."
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No end to the madness in sight Hackers have released an exploit targeting a third unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Word. The flaw is different from the two previous Word vulnerabilities reported earlier this month, US CERT helpfully explains.â¦
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Microsoft Releases 10 Security Patches for Windows, Excel, and IE  If you use Microsoft Windows, Excel, or their Internet Explorer browser you better watch out, because there are some large security holes that need patching. Microsoft on Tuesday published 10 software security advisories, warning Windows users and corporate administrators of 22 ...
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft's Office software is under attack again, this time with anÂ unpatched flaw in the Windows 2000 version of Office 2000 being usedÂ by hackersÂ to run unauthorized software on a victim's computer. Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that the bug exists, but it would not say when it plans to fix the problem. The critical vulnerability wasÂ first reported by SymantecÂ to users of its DeepSight threat notification service. Attackers are exploiting the flaw by sending malicious Word documents to victims, Symantec said. When these documents are opened, Word is tricked into installing malicious software on the PC. Symantec is calling this malware Trojan.MDropper. Trojan.MDropper installs malicious software on the computer, which in turn installs another Trojan horse program "which turns out to be new variant of Backdoor.Femo," Symantec said in an Web posting. Symantec testers had not been able to exploit the problem on more up-to-date versions of Office or Windows. On Tuesday Microsoft said that the bug was confined to Microsoft Word 2000. Microsoft is investigating the issue and may issue a patch once that investigation is completed, according to the company's public relations agency. Microsoft has spent a lot of timeÂ investigating and patching Office applications this year. Over the past few months there have been several reports concerning very targeted attacks, similar to this latest Office issue. Microsoft's last few security updatesÂ have been filled with patches for Office flaws, many of which had already been used in attacks.
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Hackers are already exploiting a new vulnerability found in Microsoft's Word and Office applications, although the attacks appear to be limited.
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Most e-mail users are aware that opening an executable file (.exe) from an unknown source is a danger, but many don&#39;t know what an IM threat looks like.
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The effectiveness of a patch issued last September for a Microsoft Word vulnerability, where .DOC files opened in Word 2003 and earlier versions via Internet Explorer or Outlook could enable remote code execution, is being called into question today.
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NEW YORK - In a harbinger of security threats to come, hackers have exploited a newly announced flaw in Microsoft Corp. programs and begun circulating malicious code hidden in images that use the popular JPEG format.
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(InfoWorld) - With its February security patches now two weeks away, Microsoft is warning of another critical flaw in its Office software. This time Excel is the target. Microsoft confirmed late Friday that its spreadsheet software is vulnerable to a new attack, and said that the problem may affect other Office software as well. The software giant is investigating reports that the flaw is being used by criminals in "very limited," attacks, according to a Microsoft security advisory. This latest flaw affects Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003, and Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac. Over the past year hackers have increasingly focused on Office applications as a security hole and the attacks based on these flaws are often the same: Criminals send an e-mail that appears legitimate, and trick unsuspecting users into opening a maliciously encoded document. Once the document is opened, attackers are able to install unauthorized software on the victim's system. Microsoft may not have time to patch the Excel flaw in time for its next set of security updates, expected Feb. 13, but, no doubt, it has other Office patches in the works. Over the past few months four similarly critical flaws have been reported in Microsoft Word. None of these has yet been patched.
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Microsoft Excel spreadsheets are the lastest ploy used by stock scammers to deliver get-rich-quick schemes.
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Microsoft's clutch of security updates this month will probably include a fix for a vulnerability in Excel that has been exploited by attackers for several weeks.
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A highly critical and unpatched security hole in Microsoft&#39;s ubiquitous Word software could be used to launch a denial of service attack and give system access.
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Attacks aimed at Office 2003 helped Microsoft learn some tough security lessons that  it could apply to help make Office 2007 more secure, according to David LeBlanc, a senior software development engineer with the Office team.
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(InfoWorld) - With hackers exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities in its Windows and Office software, Microsoft plans to issue 11 security updates next Tuesday. Some of the Office and Windows updates will be for critical flaws that could be exploited by attackers with no action on the part of users. Six of the patches will be for Windows, and four of them will be for Office, MicrosoftÂ said Thursday in a note on its Web site. The 11th update will be for a flaw in Microsoft's .Net framework, which is considered less severe than the critical Windows and Office patches. Hackers have been keeping Microsoft's Security Response Center busy this past month. Microsoft generally issues its security patches on the second Tuesday of every month, but last weekÂ the company was forced to issue a rare, "out-of-cycle" security patchÂ after criminals began exploiting a flaw in Internet Explorer's VML (Vector Markup Language) rendering engine. And security experts have also warned of cyberattacks based on unpatched flaws in PowerPoint, Word 2000 and in an ActiveX control (called WebViewFolderIcon) used by the Windows' graphical user interface software. The WebViewFolderIcon flaw will be patched Tuesday, Microsoft said. Attacks that take advantage of this flaw have been seen on the Internet, the SANS Internet Storm CenterÂ warned earlier this week. Â
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MS Office hijack hi-jinks An unpatched Microsoft Word 2000 vulnerability is being actively exploited by hackers to spread malware.â¦
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Just one day after&#160;Microsoft issued a massive set of security patches for its software, hackers have begun posting code showing how to exploit one of the flaws.The proof-of-concept code, posted Wednesday to the Milw0rm Web site, exploits a bug in the Microsoft Works file converter software that is part of Office 2003 and can be used to run unauthorized software on a victim&#39;s computer.The flaw also affects Works 8 and Works Suite 2005. To fall prey to the attack, a victim would first have to open a malicious Works attachment.Hackers have uncovered many of these file-format bugs in recent years, and they are generally not used in widespread attacks. In fact, security vendor Symantec predicts that we&#39;ll see fewer of these attacks in the months ahead as online criminals increasingly rely on browser bugs to do their dirty work.&quot;The bad guys, they&#39;re looking for different ways to trick people,&quot; said Wayne Periman, director of development with Symantec Security Response. &quot;The popular method of choice is to exploit plugins in browsers right now.&quot;Still, Periman expects criminals to try out this latest attack code. &quot;It&#39;s so simple,&quot; he said. &quot;All you have to do is get someone to open the document.&quot;As of Wednesday, Symantec had not seen any signs of attackers taking advantage of any of the flaws that Microsoft fixed this week.The software vendor released 11 sets of patches this week, fixing 17 flaws in its products, but this is the first exploit code to pop up following Tuesday&#39;s updates. A second program exploiting one of these vulnerabilities -- this one in an ActiveX control used by the Visual FoxPro database -- was posted to Milw0rm in September, months before Microsoft patched the issue.