CERT-MU Vulnerability Note VN-2010-2

Microsoft Internet Explorer DOM Operation Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Original Issue Date: December 15, 2009

Severity Rating: High

Systems Affected

• iManager 2.7.2 and prior
• Windows XP SP 2 and Windows XP SP 3
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition SP 2
• Windows Server 2003 SP 2
• Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition SP 2
• Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems
• Windows Vista, Windows Vista SP 1, and Windows Vista SP 2
• Windows Vista x64 Edition, SP 1& SP 2
• Windows Server 2008 & SP2 for 32-bit Systems
• Windows Server 2008 & SP 2for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2008 & SP 2 for Itanium-based Systems
• Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems
• Windows 7 for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems

Components Affected

• Internet Explorer 6
• Internet Explorer 7
• Internet Explorer 8

Overview

A remote code execution vulnerability has been reported Microsoft Internet Explorer that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the privileges of the logged in user.

Description

This memory corruption vulnerability which is due to invalid pointer reference-accessing freed/deleted objects- when handling certain DOM operations.

An unauthenticated remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading the users to click a link in an e-mail message or in an Instant Messenger message that takes users to the specially crafted Web site.

Successful exploitation leads remote code execution in the context of the logged in user.

Workarounds

• Set Internet and Local intranet security zone settings to "High" to prompt before running ActiveX Controls and Active Scripting in these zones
• Configure Internet Explorer to prompt before running Active Scripting or to disable Active Scripting in the Internet and Local intranet security zone
• Enable DEP for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 2 or Internet Explorer 7 .To enable or disable DEP automatically , install the application compatibility database given in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 979352
  
  For detailed steps of these workarounds refer to Microsoft Security advisory 979352

References

Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/979352.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979352

CISCO
http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/viewAlert.x?alertId=19726

US-CERT
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/492515

SecurityTracker
http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2010/Jan/1023462.html

ISC
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=7993&rss

McAfee
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_vul49625.htm

CVE Name
CVE-2009-1298

Disclaimer

The information provided herein is on "as is" basis, without warranty of any kind.