Posted on 01/14/2005 4:21:11 PM PST by holymoly
It could allow an attacker to download malicious content onto vulnerable PCs
(IDG NEWS SERVICE) A computer security researcher and an antivirus company are warning Microsoft Corp. customers about an unpatched hole in the company's Internet Explorer Web browser that could allow a remote attacker to bypass security warnings and download malicious content onto vulnerable systems.
The warnings came after the hole was identified on the Bugtraq Internet security discussion list by someone using the name "Rafel Ivgi." The hole affects Internet Explorer Version 6.0.0, including the version released with Windows XP Service Pack 2. The vulnerability allows malicious attackers to bypass warnings designed to inform users when a file is being passed to their computers using a specially-crafted HTML Web document.
Microsoft officials weren't immediately able to comment on the issue.
Security software company Symantec Corp. issued a vulnerability alert about the hole today and cited Ivgi, which also provided code proving that the hole existed.
According to the Bugtraq message and Symantec alert, an Internet Explorer feature designed to catch references to file downloads doesn't detect a particular HTML event, known as "onclick," when it's combined with the common HTML Body tag, which designates the beginning and ending of the main part of a Web page.
Malicious Internet users could use the onclick event in combination with another function called "createElement" to create an IFrame, or "inline frame," which is an HTML element that allows external objects to be inserted into another HTML document. Attackers could link the IFrame to a malicious Web page that downloaded a malicious file to the user's computer when the page was clicked on, without generating a warning in the Information bar, Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec said.
There is no patch available for the new hole, and no specific exploit code is required to take advantage of the hole, Symantec said.
Internet Explorer users are advised to avoid links provided by unknown or untrusted sources in order to keep from being lured to a malicious Web site. They can also configure the browser to disable the execution of script code and active content, though doing so could have adverse effects on the way Internet Explorer functions, Symantec said.
The news comes just three days after Microsoft issued software patches for several serious Windows security holes and released a new tool that lets users remove malicious software from their PCs (see story), and at a time of increasing competition in the Web browser market from The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser.
On Tuesday, the software company published security bulletins and patches for two critical holes, one in the Windows HTML Help system and the other in Windows code that handles cursor, animated cursor and icon formats.
Horse puckey.
At least you have a chance, with Russian Roulette.
Who's going to ping Bush2000 for the usual Baghdad Bob defense of the Death Star?
Thanks to FReepers, I am now using Firefox.
Yeah, and then there are those of us who have to use IE, because some of the sites our company uses for e-commerce require IE. Very frustrating.
If it were up to me, every single PC on our network would have Firefox.
Firefox RULES!
tech bump
Firefox does rock...I do really like this browser...I have not use IE since I downloaded Firefox.....I even changed themes..how cool!
And how is it going?
Get a second machine and a KVM switch and isolate the windows machine from the internet....
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