IE worries continue with critical bug

Third flaw in a week detected in Internet Explorer browser

By Robert McMillan

March 22, 2006 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - Security researchers today gave Microsoft Corp. more work to do as the company prepares an upcoming Internet Explorer security fix. They disclosed a critical vulnerability in Microsoft's browser -- the third flaw to be disclosed in the past week.

This bug is rated critical because it could allow an attacker to seize control of a victim's machine, according to U.K.-based Computer Terrorism Ltd., which posted an advisory on the flaw.

The problem relates to the way that IE processes information using the createTextRange() method. By presenting the browser with specially crafted code, attackers could corrupt the system's memory and trick it into running unauthorized software.

Computer Terrorism did not release sample code showing how the bug works, but the security researchers did post some details of the problem to the Full Disclosure mailing list.

The Computer Terrorism researchers said they had produced a "reliable proof of concept" for this vulnerability that had been tested on IE 6 and the new IE 7 beta 2 release running on the latest version of Windows XP.

Microsoft is working on a patch for the bug, according to Secunia Inc., which has also published an advisory on the vulnerability. Secunia rates the issue "highly critical."

Microsoft has two other IE flaws to consider as it readies its next round of security patches, scheduled for April 11 (see "Microsoft to update IE after bugs found").

One of these bugs, which was disclosed yesterday, is considered critical because it could also be used to seize control of a system. The second bug, published last Thursday, is considered less critical, but it can cause IE to crash.

This latest vulnerability appears to be the most significant of the three, because it can apparently be exploited without difficulty, according to one security researcher. "This seems very likely to be exploited soon," said Cesar Cerrudo, CEO of security research firm Argeniss.

With the information that has already been made public about the createTextRange() flaw, "you can reproduce the IE crash and by playing with IE then you can build an exploit," Cerrudo said.

Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed that it is working on an IE security update. "That update is currently in our testing process and could come out as early as April," said Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager with Microsoft's security response center. "However, there's no firm date."

Representatives from the company were not immediately available today to comment on the TextRange() vulnerability.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

POLL RESULTS

Leading IT Pros Weigh In on Top IT Issues

Accelerate your knowledge of the IT world you inhabit by viewing the results of a series of polls taken by your IT peers. These polls of 100+ IT professionals each are available for full viewing. They cover key topics such as virtualization, processor performance, green IT, cloud computing and many others. Be a part of the buzz.

WHITE PAPER

For Best Results, Think Beyond the Box

Technology is complex. Keeping it running productively shouldn't be. To that end, you want to minimize the number of solutions needed in-house to simplify operations, maintenance, and support. Kodak offers a best-practices model. One company provides support for both scanner and software, for fast problem resolution without vendor finger-pointing. Download now!

WHITE PAPER

Accelerating the Path to Demand Intelligence with a Demand Signal Repository

Utilizing demand intelligence improves the precision of pricing, product assortments, channel/store placement, and promotion, which are all essential for sustainable revenue management performance. Learn more, download this free whitepaper today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Centralized Data Backup and Your WAN
Is your organization prepared to tackle the massive challenge of protecting your data in a cost effective and timely manner? With a growing...

Why Compliance Pays
This OnDemand webcast explores the relationship that firms with best compliance records have higher revenue, greater customer retention, lower financial losses from data...

An All-in-One Approach to Web Security
Granting web access to employees poses challenges to IT administrators and introduces unique security risks. Even as companies have perfected their security techniques...

Best Practices for Managing Business Risks from the Use of IT
(Source: Symantec) Based on exhaustive benchmarks conducted by the IT Policy Compliance, this session highlights the relationship between business risks and use of...

The Hidden Dangers of Spam
Beyond the well-understood productivity drain that spam inflicts on businesses, threats posed by illicit email circulating through a network are causing many security...

Managing And Protecting Your Ever Increasing Mobile Assets
(Source: Absolute Software) Your users are becoming more mobile each day. This is great for productivity - yet challenging for IT control. Natalie...

Open Source Security Myths Dispelled
(Source: Astaro) Open Source Software is computer software whose source code is available to the general public. This openly viewable nature...

Sun OpenSSO Enterprise Webinar
(Source: Sun) This webinar replay discusses Sun OpenSSO Enterprise innovation--the single, open-source solution that helps your business solve the challenges around internal access...

Best Practices for Backing Up VMware® with Veritas NetBackup™
VMware® is used by enterprises large and small to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their IT operations. With this in mind, Symantec...

Agile Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for Rapid ROI
(Source: IBM) Content rich business processes are a core feature of daily operations at just about any organization today. Very often these essential...

All White Papers | All Webcasts