Posted on 12/27/2004 1:48:29 PM PST by Eagle9
A trio of new and unpatched vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows were made public on security mailing lists over the weekend, nudging some security vendors to alert users that their systems may be open to attack and hijacking.
The vulnerabilities, first reported by a Chinese group and then posted to the Bugtraq mailing list, are in Windows' LoadImage API function, its animated cursor files, and in the way it handles help files. All of the bugs are as yet unpatched.
All currently-supported versions of Windows -- Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Windows Server 2003 -- are affected by the three flaws, said Venustech, the Chinese security firm that posted analysis on Bugtraq. Some impact Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), some don't.
The LoadImage API vulnerability, for instance -- the latest in a series of image-related vulnerabilities that have hit Windows, Unix, and Linux -- affects Windows NT through Windows Server 2003. Whether Windows XP SP2 is at risk, however, isn't yet known.
This vulnerability could be exploited by attackers who entice users to a malicious Web site that includes a specially-crafted icon, cursor, animated cursor, or bitmap file, said Danish security firm Secunia in its alert. Alternately, the malicious image could be delivered via HTML e-mail. Users who view such messages or visit such sites could find their systems hijacked by hackers, who would be able to run their own code remotely on the PC.
The second bug, which is in Windows' ANI (animated cursor) files, could be used by an attacker to crash or freeze a Windows PC, said Venustech in its analysis. Windows XP SP2 is not vulnerable to this flaw, however.
But it is to the third, and last, of the trio, which revolves around how Windows parses help files. The bug can be exploited to create a buffer overflow, and thus give attackers control of the computer, if users open a maliciously-crafted help file posted on a site or sent to them via e-mail.
Secunia bundled the three bugs and labeled the group as a "highly critical" vulnerability, the second highest warning the firm uses. "Don't visit untrusted Web sites and don't open documents from untrusted sources," advised Secunia.
The SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) gave similar stay-clear advice. "Try not to install help files until some Tuesday in, we hope, January," the center reported.
The ISC reference to Tuesday relates to Microsoft's practice of releasing patches on the second Tuesday of every month. The next scheduled security bulletin/patch day is Jan. 11, 2005.
The SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) gave similar stay-clear advice. "Try not to install help files until some Tuesday in, we hope, January," the center reported.
The ISC reference to Tuesday relates to Microsoft's practice of releasing patches on the second Tuesday of every month. The next scheduled security bulletin/patch day is Jan. 11, 2005.
Thanks for ruining my day, E. (:^)~
Which is why I use Windows 3.1
Too late. I've already installed help files for trusted applications. And no, I don't have any that I think would really harm me. I could always make them read-only as a precaution. <sarcasm
Is there any significant part of Microsoft Windows that has not had a gaping security hole?
Just wondering.
Try Mozilla... at mozilla.com. clean and efficient. gives you more control and no bugs harder for viruses to access.
Makes IE6 look like John Kerry on the ski slopes.
Security Ping!
lets all go back to Dos 6.0
I'm told that, due to the lack of a gate or true firewall on Windows Internet systems, it's actually possible for a very small burglar to shimmy through your cable modem and steal all of your furniture.
If I ever get hit with a virus it take a few minutes to clean it. I have never had one. Buy a NAT Firwall and some Virus Protection. Don't open stupid attachments and use Hotmail for your junk addresss. Works for me.
And load Ad-Aware SE and run it. If you get a virus reformatt. You probably need to anyway.
There is a simple solution to this: Buy a Mac. :-)
I caught this quote on a tech-support list: "Microsoft will have a product that doesn't suck when it introduces its first vacuum cleaner"
I don't run Windows. I started getting away from Microsoft many years ago after the one and only time I got hit with a (DOS) virus. That was a nasty one. Nuked the disk.
For some strange reason, my computer firewall informs me I keep hacking at other's computers' by sending out an ICMP attack signature. And the funny thing is I don't have the Welchia32 worm installed on my computer. Technology isn't perfect. Go figure!
Oh, think nothing of it. My pleasure. LOL!
Actually, there're quite a few humorous replies. Some hilarious.
In the strictest sense, that's true. In the larger sense, the bad boys care about having a lot of computers 0wn3d so they can use them for distributed denial of service attacks.
If you get a virus reformatt.
This isn't a very effective method of defeating viruses. If you reformat you end up installing an OS that has NO patches on it and it's likely to get discovered and infected in minutes, long before you can download and update all of the patches that have come out since your installation CD was burned.
You probably need to anyway.
Sad, but true.
Remember, folks, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. Don't use IE or Outlook, use a firewall, use a good anti-virus product (and free AV products like Antivir, AVG and BitDefender are just as good as Norton and McAfee) and scan regularly for viruses, spyware and other malware.
Or you can stop using Windows all together.
midding = missing
lets all go back to Dos 6.0
As much as I like that idea you'll need at least 7.1 to recognize a modern hard drive without partitioning it down to a bunch of 2 gig logical drives and formatting them in FAT16.Or you could just get Knoppix and run it from the CD until you decide to install it on a hard drive, which is what I'm doing at this very moment.
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