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Vulnerability: MS08-045. Vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer could allow arbitrary code execution.

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 Details
Vulnerability name/brief description

MS08-045. Vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer could allow arbitrary code execution.

CVE/CAN name

CVE-2008-2254, CVE-2008-2255, CVE-2008-2256, CVE-2008-2257, CVE-2008-2258, CVE-2008-2259

Vendor threat level

Critical

SophosLabs threat level

Medium

Solution

MS08-045

Vendor description

This security update resolves five privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability. All of the vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

SophosLabs comments

Although there are six individual vulnerabilities listed as part of this security bulletin the message is the same for each. Be aware of browsing to untrusted websites.

Given the popularity of the affected software it is a possibility that attackers may try to exploit these vulnerabilities although currently we have yet to see any affected web pages. The fact that Microsoft has already issued a patch for these vulnerabilities means that customers already have a source of protection against these attacks available to them and for these reasons SophosLabs has assigned these vulnerabilities a threat level of medium.

SophosLabs testing result

N/A

Currently known exploits

At the time of writing SophosLabs has seen no samples of malware attempting to exploit this vulnerability. Should this situation change samples will be analysed and the necessary action will be taken.

First sample seen

N/A

Discovery date

12 August 2008

Affected software

Internet Explorer 5.01
Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 7

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-045.mspx
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-2254
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-2255
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-2256
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-2257
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-2258
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-2259

Credits

N/A

Revisions

13 August 2008 - published advisory

Explanation of terms

Vulnerability Name/Brief Description:
Vendor identifier plus a brief description of the type of attack.

CVE/CAN Name:
Currently assigned CVE name. If a CVE name doesn't exist the CAN name will be used until a CVE has been assigned.

Vendor Threat Level:

Threat level assigned by the vendor

SophosLabs Threat Level:
Threat level assigned by SophosLabs

Solution:
Vendor-supplied Patch identifier and recommended solution, or workaround if applicable.

Vendor Description:
Summary of the cause and potential effect of the vulnerability provided by the vendor.

SophosLabs Comments:
SophosLabs' opinions and observations of the vulnerability in question.

SophosLabs Testing Result:
Details of completed lab testing, if applicable. Please note that the lab test environment may differ significantly from user environments.

Currently Known Exploits:
List of identities for known exploits, if applicable.

First Sample Seen:
Date of the first sample seen by SophosLabs.

Discovery Date:
Date of the earliest known publically disclosed advisory.

Affected Software:
Vulnerable platforms and software versions.

 

 

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