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Secunia Research: Microsoft Internet Explorer "createTextRange()" Code Execution



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                     Secunia Research 23/03/2006

  - Microsoft Internet Explorer "createTextRange()" Code Execution -

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Table of Contents

Affected Software....................................................1
Severity.............................................................2
Description of Vulnerability.........................................3
Solution.............................................................4
Time Table...........................................................5
Credits..............................................................6
References...........................................................7
About Secunia........................................................8
Verification.........................................................9

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1) Affected Software

* Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
* Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview (January edition)

Other versions may also be affected.

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2) Severity

Rating: Highly critical
Impact: System access
Where:  Remote

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3) Description of Vulnerability

Secunia Research has discovered a vulnerability in 
Microsoft Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious 
people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the processing of the 
"createTextRange()" method call applied on a radio button control. 
This can be exploited by e.g. a malicious web site to corrupt memory 
in a way, which allows the program flow to be redirected to the heap.

Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code.

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4) Solution

Disable Active Scripting support.

NOTE: The vendor is currently working on a patch.

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5) Time Table

10/02/2006 - Vulnerability discovered.
13/02/2006 - Vendor notified.
21/02/2006 - Vendor confirms vulnerability.
22/03/2006 - Vulnerability reported to public mailing lists by 
             third-party.
23/03/2006 - Public disclosure.

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6) Credits

Discovered by Andreas Sandblad, Secunia Research.

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7) References

US-CERT VU#876678:
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/876678

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8) About Secunia

Secunia collects, validates, assesses, and writes advisories regarding
all the latest software vulnerabilities disclosed to the public. These
advisories are gathered in a publicly available database at the
Secunia website:

http://secunia.com/

Secunia offers services to our customers enabling them to receive all
relevant vulnerability information to their specific system
configuration.

Secunia offers a FREE mailing list called Secunia Security Advisories:

http://secunia.com/secunia_security_advisories/

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9) Verification

Please verify this advisory by visiting the Secunia website:
http://secunia.com/secunia_research/2006-7/advisory/

Complete list of vulnerability reports published by Secunia Research:
http://secunia.com/secunia_research/

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