Hackers Target Microsoft JPEG Hole
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Images posted in news groups may install remote control software on vulnerable PCs.
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Hackers wasted little time in exploiting a flaw in the way Microsoft software handles graphics files. Internet watchers say they&#39;ve spotted infected images that could implant a back door into a Windows computer if they are viewed.
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Microsoft Corp., a worldwide leader in operating systems and Internet technologies, announced that it has found a major flaw in Windows XP operating system that is related to the JPEG image format.
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Because Internet Explorer is one of the programs vulnerable to a newly discovered Windows image flaw, it is possible that someone could fall victim to a virus written to exploit it just by visiting a Web site that uses JPEG images.
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Hackers take advantage of a flaw in various Microsoft programs that leaves PCs vulnerable to remote attacks. Security experts expect the threat to grow.
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The seriousness of an already critical flaw in the way a Microsoft component processes JPEG files got ratcheted up a notch this week as exploit code began circulating.
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(InfoWorld) - A hacker successfully attacked a Web page within Microsoft's U.K. domain on Wednesday, resulting in the display of a photograph of a child waving the flag of Saudi Arabia. It was "unfortunate" that the site was vulnerable, said Roger Halbheer, chief security advisor for Microsoft in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, on Friday. The problem has since been fixed. However, the hack highlights how large software companies with technical expertise can still prove vulnerable to hackers. The hacker, who posted his name as "rEmOtEr," exploited a programming mistake in the site by using a technique known as SQL (Structured Query Language) injection to get unauthorized access to a database, Halbheer said. The site took SQL queries of a particular form, embedded in URLs (uniform resource locators), and passed them to a database. By embedding a query with an unexpected form in the requested URL, the hacker prompted the server to return error messages, Halbheer said. From those error messages, a hacker can get an idea of how the database is structured and refine a SQL query that the database will process as an instruction to insert, rather than retrieve, data. Eventually, the hacker found the right combination and inserted a link to an external Web site into the database. That meant when the normal Web page was called into a browser, the database would download data from an external link. In this case, it was two photos and a graphic, a screen shot of which is available on Zone-H.org , which tracks hacked Web sites. There are two ways to avoid this style of attack. First, the database should not be allowed to return error messages, Halbheer said. Secondly, the Web application should have validated the URL the hacker entered and rejected ones that should not be processed, he said. If a programmer makes a mistake, "the bad guy can leverage it," Halbheer said. SQL injection attacks are on the rise, overall, since valuable data is held within databases, said Paul Davie, founder and chief operating officer of Secerno, a security vendor that develops technology to protect databases from SQL attacks. "I don't think Microsoft are unique in this respect and shouldn't be held up as particularly slipshod," Davie said. "This could have happened to practically anybody."
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The Internet security community is preparing for a working virus or worm attack based on the Microsoft JPEG exploit revealed last week.
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An intruder could manipulate a flaw in how the browsers handle image files to see where the user has been surfing.
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A security flaw in the way many Microsoft Corp. applications process JPEG images could allow an attacker to gain control over a computer running the software, Microsoft warned Tuesday.
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Microsoftâs monthly security bulletin has uncovered a âcriticalâ buffer overrun vulnerability that exists in the processing of JPEG image formats.
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Malicious hackers are seeding Internet news groups that traffic in pornography with JPEG images that take advantage of a recently disclosed security hole in Microsoft&#39;s software, according to warnings from antivirus software companies and Internet
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Khoo writes &quot;A sample program hit the Internet on Wednesday, showing by example how malicious coders could compromise Windows computers by using a flaw in the handling of a widespread graphics format by Microsoft&#39;s software.
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Microsoft published on Tuesday a patch for a major security flaw in its software&#39;s handling of the JPEG graphics format and urged customers to use a new tool to locate the many applications that are vulnerable.
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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.
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AS WE PREDICTED last week after a weekend free time, hackers have come up with a method of exploiting the latest hole in Microsoft Windows.
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One of the first flaws found in Windows XP SP2 -- which leaves a PC vulnerable through a drag-and-drop hole in Internet Explorer -- could be used by hackers for even greater mischief.