Risk
High
Date Discovered
September 12, 2006
Description
Microsoft Internet Explorer is prone to a remote buffer-overflow vulnerability. A successful exploit may result in arbitrary code-execution in the context of the user running the browser.
This issue was introduced with the rereleased patches of Microsoft advisory MS06-042.
This issue is nearly identical to that discussed in BID 19667 (Microsoft Internet Explorer HTTP 1.1 and Compression Long URI Buffer Overflow Vulnerability), but is a separate vulnerability.
Technologies Affected
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0.1 SP4
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1
Recommendations
Run all software as a nonprivileged user with minimal access rights.
To reduce the impact of latent vulnerabilities, always run non-administrative software as an unprivileged user with minimal access rights.Do not follow links provided by unknown or untrusted sources.
An attacker must convince a vulnerable user to view a malicious web page to exploit this issue. Never follow links provided by unknown sources from a critical computer.Implement multiple redundant layers of security.
Various memory-protection schemes (such as non-executable and randomly mapped memory segments) may hinder an attacker's ability to exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-042 has been reissued to address this issue. Please see the referenced advisory for more information.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-042 has been updated to address a flaw in Mshtml.dll that was introduced in the previous fixes. Please see the referenced advisory for more information.
Credits
Derek Soeder of eEye Digital Security is credited with the discovery of this vulnerability.
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