Update: Microsoft tests fix for IE bug as exploits appear

It aims to add patch on or before its April 11 security update

By Nancy Gohring

March 27, 2006 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - A recently identified security hole in the Internet Explorer browser is being exploited, and Microsoft Corp. hopes to include a fix for it in its April 11 patch or possibly sooner, according to a posting on a Microsoft blog.

So far, attacks are limited in scope, Stephen Toulouse, head of Microsoft's Security Response Center, wrote on the center's blog Saturday. Today, however, Web security company Websense Inc. said it has found hundreds of sites taking advantage of the weakness and that the number of such sites is rapidly growing.

The vulnerability, which was first identified last week, allows hackers to entice Web surfers to visit Web sites where malicious code can be automatically run on the visitor's computer (see "Exploit now publicly available for unpatched IE flaw"). It exploits a vulnerability in the way that IE renders HTML and affects Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, Toulouse said. Users of IE 7 Beta 2, the most recent version of IE, won't be affected by the bug, Microsoft said.

"We're working day and night on development of a cumulative security update for Internet Explorer that addresses the vulnerability," Toulouse wrote. The update is being tested and is expected to be released as part of Microsoft's monthly security update, which is scheduled for April 11, he said. However, Microsoft could release the fix earlier if the threat grows, he said.

The Web sites found by Websense download different types of malicious code, including back doors and Trojan horses, onto Web surfers' machines. Back doors bypass regular authentication requirements, enabling unauthorized access to computers, and Trojan horses are malicious programs disguised as legitimate applications.

Microsoft is working with industry partners and law enforcement to remove Web sites that are exploiting the vulnerability, Toulouse said.

Web surfers can avoid the attack by turning off Active Scripting, Microsoft said.

The vulnerability is the third such IE bug to surface within the past two weeks and is considered the most serious because it is relatively easy to exploit.

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

Addressing Compliance Initiatives with Tripwire and the Center for Internet Security
Learn the basics about security benchmarks, and specifically how the security benchmarks developed by the Center for Internet Security (CIS) can help you...

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

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...

The Value of Real SaaS at Workday
Cost savings, speed to value, and innovation brought to the enterprise by Workday's software-as-a-service solutions for HR and Payroll....

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...

SaaS at Flextronics, Inc.
Dave Smoley, CIO of Flextronics, discusses the real value of software-as-a-service and why he chose Workday for his HR solution....

Case Study: The Ritz London
Discover how the superior capabilities of Webroot E-mail Security SaaS allows user to focus on their principal tasks instead of wasting their time...

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...

Case Study: Richmond Ambulance Authority (RAA)
In this case study, find out how Webroot Web Security SaaS delivers the proactive web security RAA needs....

Agile Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for Rapid ROI
Find out how combining ECM and BPM will help adress issues about content rich business processes....

All White Papers | All Webcasts