Microsoft warns of new ActiveX flaw

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ActiveX, Microsoft

NEWS

Attackers are exploiting a new critical ActiveX hole in Microsoft Office to take control of PCs by luring Internet Explorer users to malicious websites, Microsoft said on Monday.

The zero-day hole, the third one announced by Microsoft in less than two months, is in Office Web Components ActiveX controls used to display and publish spreadsheets, charts and databases to the web.

It affects Office XP, Office 2003, Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 and 2006, as well as Office Small Business Accounting 2006.

The security advisory details a manual workaround, or people can use Microsoft's Fix-It tool to implement the workaround automatically.

Microsoft said it was working on a security update to patch the hole.

Antivirus vendor Sophos, meanwhile, said in a blog posting on its site that it had received reports of several websites, mostly in China, serving the exploit as part of a web-exploit kit that downloads and runs a Windows Executable detected as 'Mal/Generic-A'.

Talkback

Microsoft has labeled this exploit as ‘critical’, as users that run Internet Explorer as their default browser are at risk of handing over unauthorised control of their end point to criminals.

IT managers will be under immense pressure this month to protect users from this web based zero-day exploit as well as manage tomorrow’s expected bumper Patch Tuesday. Given that Microsoft has warned that hackers are already exploiting the bug, means IT managers will need to race against the clock to take action before the hackers do.

lumension 14 July, 2009 23:14
Reply

Get it done "by yesterday".
The more long term plan should be to kill off ActiveX !
It works mostly as Internet Explorers Achilles heel.
The combination of ActiveX and IE is responsible for over 60% of all attacks on Windows.

hkommedal 15 July, 2009 02:35
Reply

You have it right bro, IE + ActiveX is a hackers dream. ActiveX has been a security nightmare since its inception, and should have been dropped long ago.

ator1940 15 July, 2009 12:34
Reply

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