iDefense Security Advisory 02.12.08 http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/ Feb 12, 2008 I. BACKGROUND Internet Explorer is a graphical web browser developed by Microsoft Corp. that has been included with Microsoft Windows since 1995. For more information about Internet Explorer, visit following URL. http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ II. DESCRIPTION Remote exploitation of a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer web browser allows attackers to execute arbitrary code within the context of the affected user. When certain properties are assigned malformed values, memory can be corrupted in a way that leads to Internet Explorer making a call to a member function of an already released property object. If the memory location of the released property object happens to be filled by attacker controlled content, the attacker can execute arbitrary code. III. ANALYSIS Exploitation of this vulnerability would allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the user running Internet Explorer. In order to be successful, a targeted user must render a maliciously crafted web page. On Vista, Internet Explorer 7 runs in Protected Mode, which has less privileges than a normal user. It somewhat mitigates the impact of this vulnerability, but does not prevent arbitrary code execution. IV. DETECTION iDefense testing shows that Internet Explorer 6.0 and Internet Explorer 7.0, with all available security patches as of October 22nd, 2007, are vulnerable. Older versions of Internet Explorer may also be vulnerable. V. WORKAROUND Disabling active scripting for the Internet Zone can effectively mitigate this issue. VI. VENDOR RESPONSE Microsoft has officially addressed this vulnerability with Security Bulletin MS08-010. For more information, consult their bulletin at the following URL. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms08-010.mspx VII. CVE INFORMATION The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the name CVE-2008-0077 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for security problems. VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE 10/24/2007 Initial vendor notification 10/24/2007 Initial vendor response 02/12/2008 Coordinated public disclosure IX. CREDIT This vulnerability was reported to VeriSign iDefense by hyy. Get paid for vulnerability research http://labs.idefense.com/methodology/vulnerability/vcp.php Free tools, research and upcoming events http://labs.idefense.com/ X. LEGAL NOTICES Copyright © 2008 iDefense, Inc. Permission is granted for the redistribution of this alert electronically. It may not be edited in any way without the express written consent of iDefense. If you wish to reprint the whole or any part of this alert in any other medium other than electronically, please e-mail customerservice@xxxxxxxxxxxx for permission. Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, this information.
