IE 6 vulnerability warning

IE 6 vulnerability warning

Story by Newsdesk, 18-01-2010, 0 comment

Exploit code using an IE 6 vulnerability has been seen 'in the wild'.

Microsoft has issued a security warning for Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) telling users they need to protect themselves against a vulnerability that has now been seen being used by attackers.

The same IE6 vulnerability was apparently part the ways Google was attacked last week. The attacks make use of an invalid pointer reference bug in IE6. The same problem exists in later versions of IE, but the way security is handled in these releases make the problem less acute. Users who choose the default installation mode in IE8 have data execution prevention turned on as the default. 

A Microsoft statement said that "Microsoft is aware of public exploit code released that impacts customers using Internet Explorer 6 and of limited, targeted attacks attempting to use this vulnerability against Internet Explorer (IE) 6. As a result of the reports, we released an update to Security Advisory 979352 to alert customers and provide actionable guidance and tools to help with protections against exploit of this IE vulnerability. Customers using Internet Explorer 8 are not affected by currently known attacks and exploits due to the improved security protections in IE8. To help protect our customers, we recommend that all customers immediately upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. Customers should also consider applying the workarounds and mitigations provided in our Security Advisory such as putting Internet zone security settings to High."

You can read the security advisory on the Microsoft website.

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