Hi, Here is a message I've received. I've tried it, and it works. I can't find the HTML file I've created, but you can try that provided link. I don't know if it was solved until now. A security hole has been discovered which affects all versions of IE since version 4 plus OE and Outlook even if Active Scripting and ActiveX are disabled in the browser settings. MS has no patch yet, but this page here http://www.theregus.com/content/4/24206.html has more details. The site is experiencing heavy traffic so here are the details: <snip> IE, Outlook run malicious commands without scripting By Thomas C Greene in Washington Posted: 03/04/2002 at 08:46 EST An attacker can run arbitrary commands on Windows machines with a simple bit of HTML, an Israeli security researcher has demonstrated. The exploit will work with IE, Outlook and OutlooK Express even if active scripting and ActiveX are disabled in the browser security settings. The problem here is data binding, an old 'feature' going back to IE4 in which a data source object (DSO) is bound to HTML. Using an XML data source, the researchers operating a Web site called GreyMagic Software came up with a simple example in which a few lines will cause Windows to launch the calculator application thus: <span datasrc="#oExec" datafld="exploit" dataformatas="html"></span> <xml id="oExec"> <security> <exploit> <![CDATA[ <object id="oFile" classid="clsid:11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111" codebase="c:/windows/system32/calc.exe"></object> ]]> </exploit> </security> </xml> You can copy and paste this into a text editor, where "windows" is your Windows directory, and name it whatever.htm. Then open the file with your browser and watch the calculator launch. MS has yet to patch the hole, but we've verified that a workaround proposed by Axel Pettinger and Garland Hopkins works on the above example, though that's no guarantee that it will work on every exploit of this sort. Using regedit.exe find the following key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\0] and change the value of "1004" (DWORD) from "0" to "3". Don't forget to back up your registry before making changes, even innocuous ones like this. You can then re-boot and open the example file with your browser again to verify that it fails to launch the calculator. However, the workaround will often cause IE to launch a security warning dialog box which has to be cleared before you can continue surfing. It tells you that your security settings are interfering with your rich Internet experience, and you can't tick a box ordering it to stop warning you of what you already know. Personally I believe MS does this to discourage high security settings in IE which interfere with the rich eXPeriences advertisers have in store for you on the Web, and which MS seems inexplicably eager to vouchsafe. You don't get sick of the slightly scaled-down functionality; you get sick of the endless warnings and eventually capitulate and restore your settings to Redmond-approved, and Direct Marketing Association-approved, levels. But we digress. Obviously, there's a slew of malicious activities which can be attempted with this exploit, and a slew of people busily working on them. Thus it might be prudent to apply the workaround until Redmond issues a patch -- if you can stand to be harangued about your security settings at every turn, that is. ? Teddy, orasnita at home.ro ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Poehlman" <poehlman1@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 1:50 PM Subject: Re: Why Windows? I do not understand this message. how can ie open notepad unless you ask for the source and then it is designed to do that. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Octavian Rasnita" <orasnita@xxxxxxx> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:32 PM Subject: Re: Why Windows? Yes you're right. I have an HTML page and if you open it from a web site in Internet explorer, it opens you the Notepad. Internet Explorer, is not very secure, of course. But I think there are problems with Unix also. Go to www.astalavista.com and you will find some tutorials about how to crack Unix, etc. I don't know if they work because I haven't tried it, but ... Teddy, orasnita at home.ro ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich Caloggero" <rjc@xxxxxxx> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:05 AM Subject: Why Windows? OK, I think windows exists for sighted people. I think that blind people need to use windows if they are doing sys-admin or other tasks which require them to interact with windows, or dare I say, help a sighted person use their friendly little crash-prone boxes! <smile> I often think that the reason windows is so unstable is to keep us sys-admins employed! Hehehehehahahahe! Actually, I heard an interesting windblows tidbit the other day. In windows 3.1, there was a concept called Object Linking and Embeding (OLE). It allows one to put, say, a sound file within a spreadsheet, and embed all that within something else. In fact, this is what XML does for you, but those were the days long before XML. Anyhow, they were also the days before the internet became widely popular. The problem was that OLE was not at all secure. When the internet became more widely used, and malware began to spread, people realized that this stuff was very insecure. So Microsoft began building layer on top of layer to try and address these issues. By the time the security problems were becomign more widely exployted, Microsoft had traveled too far down the OLE path, and could not give it up. I forget what all the crap on top of OLE was called, but the dot net stuff is merely another layer on top of the broken OLE, so Microsoft security issues will forever be rearing their ugly heads, and Microslop will have to patch every single one of them!! Hahahahehehehehehaha! Rich ----- Original Message ----- From: "Deedra Waters" <curi0315@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: 19 May, 2002 1:24 AM Subject: Re: interesting experiment. I think honestly that if beginners have an easy start it may help some in the long run. I honestly think that there are some people who want to learn but are having a hard time in which case, helping them can be useful. I'm bad at sitting and reading manpage after manpage trying to find things, and I was even worse at the beginning. I had a great deal of help in the beginning, and there was a lot I didn't understand. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this accept to say that there are people who have a real hard time by just reading, and helping them, or trying to walk them threw some things doesn't always mean that they need to be spoonfead On Sun, 19 May 2002, Toby Fisher wrote: > On Sun, 19 May 2002, Octavian Rasnita wrote: > > > Hi, thank you. > > No, I don't like Windows. I don't use to play games because I don't have the > > time. > > Oh now you don't know what you're missing, I can recommend GMA Games for > one, for a bit of light relief. > > <snip> > > > But I also don't like to see a lot of people from this list, nor > from any > > list, thinking that Linux is better than Windows. > > Actually, if you look carefully at most of what you view to be > anti-Windows comments, they are, in the main, aimed at the company that > spawned it. > > > Windows is better than Linux for multimedia development but Macintosh is > > even better than Windows for this thing. > > > > Some Unix graphic stations are better probably than Macintosh for their > > purpose. > > Yes, but until very recently Macintosh had a problem with expensive > hardware, for example, on some power macs there was only 1 make of modem > you could use because of the connection it required; guess what, they're > not made any more so my friend is going to have to buy a new computer, > this is, imho, a potential problem which can arise when hardware and > software are made by the same company, as used to happen back in the big > mainframe days. > > <snip> > > > I like the Linux users to be a kind of helpful community, because > they are > > not very many, especially blind, but all the experimented people in linux > > give the beginners criptical commands without explaining too much, RTFM, > > etc. > > I believe that there are reasons for this. > > First, what that person may want is a means to get up and running as > hasle-free as possible. Second, explanation of the command may, and note > I use the word may, cause confusion, until the person has read some docs, > which they may be unable to do due to whatever problem it is that has > caused them to write to the list. > > Third, it does not help anyone, least of all the beginner, if they are > spoon-fed, as they may then be unable to help themselves if they are ever > stuck without an internet connection, or otherwise unable to call on > required assistance. > > Cheers. > > -- > Toby Fisher Email: toby at g0ucu.freeserve.co.uk > Tel.: +44(0)1480 417272 Mobile: +44(0)7974 363239 > ICQ: #61744808 > Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. > See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html > > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list Speakup at braille.uwo.ca http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list Speakup at braille.uwo.ca http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list Speakup at braille.uwo.ca http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
