 | By Chris Mosby The Internet is buzzing about the release of Internet Explorer 7. The Internet is also buzzing about flaws in IE 7 that are left over from IE 6. I first wrote about one IE 6 flaw in the May 11, 2006, issue of the newsletter — and it still hasn’t been patched yet. I wonder how many other holes remain active in Microsoft’s “new” browser? |
Redirection flaw in IE 6 and 7 discloses information
As I reported back in that May 11 column, a flaw in IE 6 and 7 involves an error in redirections for URLs that use the mhtml handler.
Microsoft’s Christopher Budd tried to explain in a Oct. 19 blog entry that this flaw is not due to IE but a component of Outlook Express. However, when I uninstalled Outlook Express (thank you Justice Department), the MHTML vulnerability test provided by Secunia (described below) still showed that IE 7 was vulnerable. This was on a fully patched version of Windows XP SP2.
Successful exploitation of this flaw can allow one Web site you visit to access the pages of other Web sites. For instance, if you are logged on to your online bank account with IE, a hacked Web site you’re also viewing in IE would be able to see information in the bank’s window.
What to do: Secunia suggests disabling active scripting support in both IE 6 and 7. If you’ve followed Brian’s recommended settings for IE 6, then you’re already taken care of. These settings are normally inherited by IE 7 when you upgrade. As far as IE 7 goes, Brian’s story, above, goes into detail on hardening the new browser’s settings.
After you’ve changed the Internet Options for IE, try the tests for these browsers that are linked to on Secunia’s advisory pages for IE 6 and IE 7.
Pop-up spoofing inherited in IE 7 from IE 6
Secunia reported this week a second unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft’s recently released IE 7. The flaw involves a weakness in the way that IE 7 handles the address bar on pop-up windows. When some special characters are appended to the URL, a dishonest Web site operator can display the wrong address bar in the popup.
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