Microsoft Flaw Exposed by End User

[rctempire]

Taken from http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22221.html
Five new flaws have been found in Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Office, one of which was deemed "critical" by the company in a technical bulletin that provided patches for the holes. The vulnerabilities are particularly glaring, because they affect a wide variety of Microsoft software. Moreover, in at least one case, the flaw was unearthed not by a techie whose job is to attack Microsoft code, but by a typical end-user who created a Microsoft Word template the wrong way.

The critical flaw in Visual Basic for Applications affects some versions of Microsoft Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. According to the company's security bulletin, when a document is opened by an application that supports Visual Basic for Applications, the host carries out a check to determine if Microsoft VBA is required by the document and should therefore be loaded. During the initial check, some document properties are passed to Microsoft VBA. The flaw exists because VBA does not correctly validate the data that is passed to it.

As a result, an attacker could create a document with a VBA application designed to accomplish a buffer overflow. If successful, the attacker could run arbitrary code "in the context of the logged-on user," Microsoft said. For an attacker to be successful, the user would have to open a specially crafted document sent by the attacker.

In the case where Microsoft Word is being used as the HTML e-mail editor for Outlook, however, the document could be an e-mail attachment that the user would only have to reply to or forward to trigger the attack.

The one factor possibly mitigating the flaw is that the malicious code could only run with the same rights as the logged-on user. Any limitations on a user's account would also restrict the actions of the malicious code, Microsoft said.

Finding Word Holes

A Microsoft Word and Microsoft Works flaw deemed "important" involves Word's macro security model. Microsoft said vulnerability exists in Word that could allow an attacker armed with a malicious document to bypass security and add, change or delete data or files; communicate with a Web site; or format a hard drive.

If the attacker's document were opened, the malicious macro could execute automatically, regardless of the macro security-level setting. Again, however, the attacker would have to persuade a user to open a document attached to an e-mail.

Jim Bassett, a developer at Practitioners Publishing Company, reported the flaw to Microsoft. Bassett said that he discovered the flaw when a non-technical coworker sent him a Word template that had been created a certain way. Bassett noticed that any Word documents derived from the template started "acting strangely." Bassett ran macro code to debug the template and noticed that even if he had the macro security level set to high or even had "disabled macros" checked, the code would get through.

Basset said his coworker accidentally turned a Word document into a template using a special technique that Bassett declined to disclose. Basset said he first reported the problem to Microsoft back in May. "It took a while for Microsoft to solve it all," Bassett said. "The hole still existed in the Office 2003 beta."

Converter Troubles

Another Office-related flaw involves Microsoft’s WordPerfect converter for handling Corel (Nasdaq: CORL) WordPerfect documents. The flaw exists because the converter does not correctly validate "certain parameters" when it opens a WordPerfect document, which could result in a buffer overflow. Again, arbitrary code could be executed from a malicious document. This flaw, deemed "important," affects Word, PowerPoint, FrontPage, Publisher, and Microsoft Works.

A flaw rated "moderate" by Microsoft involves the Microsoft Access database, particularly its Snapshot Viewer. Because Snapshot Viewer does not validate parameters correctly, a buffer overflow could occur when a file is opened and provide a door for the execution of malicious code. This flaw would require the user to visit a Web site that is under the attacker's control. The Snapshot Viewer is available in all versions of Access but is not installed by default.

NetBIOS Leak

The final fault, which was rated "low" in importance by Microsoft, involves the NetBT (NetBIOS over TCP) Name Service, which enables administrators to find a system's IP address given its NetBIOS name.

Microsoft said that under certain conditions, the response to a NetBT Name Service query may contain random data from the target system's memory. The data could be a segment of HTML or other data that resides in memory when the target system responds. An attacker could gain access to private data by sending a query to the target system and then checking to see if the response included any data.

According to Microsoft, if port 137 UDP has been blocked at the firewall, Internet-based attacks would not be possible. This flaw affects some versions of Windows NT, 2000, XP and Server 2003.

[Malicious Intent]

For some reason microsoft refuse to provide me with technical support...

[rctempire]

Sounds like someone is using a backup copy here Of course you have an original disc so your serial number will be valid to do the updates mate


LOL

[NTFS]

Title: Flaw in Visual Basic for Applications Could Allow
Arbitrary Code Execution (822715)
Date: 03 September 2003

Affected Software:
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications SDK 5.0
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications SDK 6.0
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications SDK 6.2
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications SDK 6.3

Products which include the affected software:
Microsoft Access 97
Microsoft Access 2000
Microsoft Access 2002
Microsoft Excel 97
Microsoft Excel 2000
Microsoft Excel 2002
Microsoft PowerPoint 97
Microsoft PowerPoint 2000
Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
Microsoft Project 2000
Microsoft Project 2002
Microsoft Publisher 2002
Microsoft Visio 2000
Microsoft Visio 2002
Microsoft Word 97
Microsoft Word 98(J)
Microsoft Word 2000
Microsoft Word 2002
Microsoft Works Suite 2001
Microsoft Works Suite 2002
Microsoft Works Suite 2003
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains 7.5
Microsoft Business Solutions Dynamics 6.0
Microsoft Business Solutions Dynamics 7.0
Microsoft Business Solutions eEnterprise 6.0
Microsoft Business Solutions eEnterprise 7.0
Microsoft Business Solutions Solomon 4.5
Microsoft Business Solutions Solomon 5.0
Microsoft Business Solutions Solomon 5.5

Impact: Run code of attackers choice
Max Risk: Critical
Bulletin: MS03-037

Microsoft encourages customers to review the Security Bulletins
at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...n/MS03-037.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/security/se...s/ms03-037.asp
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Issue:
======
Microsoft VBA is a development technology for developing client
desktop packaged applications and integrating them with existing
data and systems. Microsoft VBA is based on the Microsoft Visual
Basic development system. Microsoft Office products include VBA
and make use of VBA to perform certain functions. VBA can also be
used to build customized applications based around an existing
host application.

A flaw exists in the way VBA checks document properties passed to
it when a document is opened by the host application. A buffer
overrun exists which if exploited successfully could allow an
attacker to execute code of their choice in the context of the
logged on user.

In order for an attack to be successful, a user would have to
open a specially crafted document sent to them by an attacker.
This document could be any type of document that supports VBA,
such as a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint
presentation. In the case where Microsoft Word is being used as
the HTML e-mail editor for Microsoft Outlook, this document could
be an e-mail, however the user would need to reply to, or forward
the mail message in order for the vulnerability to be exploited.

Mitigating Factors:
====================
- -The user must open a document sent to them by an attacker in
order for this vulnerability to be exploited.
- -When Microsoft Word is being used as the HTML e-mail editor in
Outlook, a user would need to reply to or forward a malicious e-
mail document sent to them in order for this vulnerability to be
exploited.
- -An attacker's code could only run with the same rights as the
logged on user. The specific privileges the attacker could gain
through this vulnerability would therefore depend on the
privileges granted to the user. Any limitations on a user's
account, such as those applied through Group Policies, would also
limit the actions of any arbitrary code executed by this
vulnerability.

Risk Rating:
============
- Critical

Patch Availability:
===================
- A patch is available to fix this vulnerability. Please read
the Security Bulletins at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...n/ms03-037.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/security/se...s/ms03-037.asp
for information on obtaining this patch.

Acknowledgment:
===============
- eEye Digital Security, http://www.eeye.com

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS
PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT
DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
THE
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL
DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT
ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL
OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

[rctempire]

No warranty they cause the problems anyway so they should be covered Trust M$ to do this as usual