Internet Explorer Multiple Vulnerabilities

TITLE: Internet Explorer Multiple Vulnerabilities
SECUNIA ADVISORY ID: SA24156
VERIFY ADVISORY: http://secunia.com/advisories/24156/
CRITICAL: Highly critical
IMPACT: System access
WHERE: From remote
SOFTWARE:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x
http://secunia.com/product/11/
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x
http://secunia.com/product/12366/
DESCRIPTION:
Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.
1) An error within the instantiation of COM objects (Imjpcksid.dll and Imjpskdic.dll) not intended to be instantiated in Internet Explorer can be exploited to cause a memory corruption.
2) Another error within the instantiation of COM objects (Msb1fren.dll, Htmlmm.ocx, and Blnmgrps.dll) not intended to be instantiated in Internet Explorer can be exploited to cause a memory corruption.
3) An error within the parsing of FTP server responses can be exploited to cause a memory corruption via a specially crafted response sent to the FTP client in Internet Explorer.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerabilities allows execution of arbitrary code.
SOLUTION: Apply patches.
Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP SP2
Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2

PROVIDED AND/OR DISCOVERED BY:
1) Reported by the vendor.
2) The vendor credits H D Moore, BreakingPoint Systems.
3) The vendor credits iDefense Labs.

ORIGINAL ADVISORY: MS07-016 (KB928090)

EDITORIAL: The revolution in Internet browsing, Microsoft's secure browser, Internet Explorer 7 is... a flop. Just a few months after the much-heralded release of IE7, we find that it's just as full of holes as IE6. The Trustworthy Computing initiative hasn't worked. Internet Explorer is still a huge problem for network security admins around the world.

Old Cracks Found in New Windows Vista

NewYorkDailyNews.com
Redmond, we have a problem. The brand spanking-new Windows operating system called Vista - billed as "the most secure version of Windows yet" on the Microsoft Web site - has proven a pushover for Internet hackers. Microsoft has acknowledged Vista has a flaw that could allow users to increase their access level to administrator, a problem first posted by a Russian hacker.
A flaw was also found in Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7 that could download viruses from a booby-trapped Web page. That flaw and five others were reported by Determina, a Silicon Valley computer security company. "We are closely monitoring developments," said Microsoft's Mike Reavey, operations manager for the Redmond, Wash. company's emergency response team. "Currently we have not observed any public exploitation or attack activity regarding this issue," he wrote. And, he insisted, "I still have every confidence that Windows Vista is our most secure platform to date."
But news of the IE7 flaw and the hacker postings is a black eye for Bill Gates and Microsoft - and for the thousands of PC makers who will begin selling their computers next month with Vista. Thousands of consumers put off buying computers this Christmas season waiting for the release at the end of January of the new upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
One online tech expert, Jay Dougherty, wrote for the German Press Agency that Vista may prove a tough sell for folks already happy with their home computers, especially because the current XP system has proven to be relatively stable. "People are tired of upgrading - especially when the benefits of doing so are difficult to articulate or uninspiring. That's the problem with Microsoft's Vista operating system in a nutshell," he wrote.
Vista's big selling points, besides it supposed safety and security, are its stunning 3D graphics that many critics argue is simply an attempt - and a bad one at that - to match what Apple has had for years on the Macintosh.

The "First Security Hole" in IE 7

By Brian Livingston
Much was made last week about the "first vulnerability" that was supposedly found in IE 7. There is in fact a vulnerability, but it's also one that's present in IE 5 and 6, which Microsoft has never corrected, although it's easy for you to work around it. The Dutch security firm Secunia reported on October 19th that malicious Web sites could grab data from other sites that had IE 7 windows open. For example, if you happened to be logged in to your online banking application and concurrently visited a hacker site, the bad site could see information from your banking site.
Microsoft developers poo-pooed the weakness, saying in an Oct. 19 blog post that the problem actually exists in an Outlook Express component, not a part of IE 7.
I've examined this claim and find that IE 7 does have a real problem, regardless of whether the code being exploited is considered a part of Outlook Express. In addition, the SANS Internet Storm Center confirmed on October 20th that IE 7 is vulnerable.
Secunia has posted a harmless browser test page that you can use to test your own copy of IE, and I urge you to do so. The firm also provides a description of the problem in two separate advisories: one for IE 7 and the other for IE 5 and 6. I tested a workaround recommended by Secunia and found that it works. Use the Tools, Internet Options menu item in IE, select the Security tab, then change the Custom Level. Switch options to run ActiveX content to "Disable," then run Secunia's browser test again. After making this change to my copy of IE, the test no longer found that my browser was vulnerable.
Of course, no version of the Firefox browser has ever been vulnerable to the Secunia test. Until Microsoft closes this and other IE holes for good, Firefox gets my recommendation as the safest browser you can use to surf the Web.