[pchelpers] News:Second Microsoft Excel Attack Discovered by Hacker
- From: John Durham <john.modec@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: PC-Helpers <pchelpers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 13:12:49 +1200
JUN 21, 2006 07:29:38 AM
With Microsoft developers scrambling to patch a security hole in Excel,
a hacker has now posted code that exploits a second vulnerability in the
spreadsheet software.
Microsoft says that criminals are not yet using this code in attacks,
but the software could be used to run unauthorized programs on a PC,
according to Marc Maiffret, chief hacking officer at security software
vendor eEye Digital Security.
This latest Excel attack was disclosed Monday in a posting to the Full
Disclosure security discussion list.
It marks the second time in the past week that Excel users have had to
worry about this type of malware. On Monday, Microsoft published an
alert warning of a similarly critical attack, which was first discovered
late last week.
Both attacks rely on users to open maliciously encoded Excel documents,
but this new attack is less critical than the first. That’s because
users must take the additional step of clicking on a specially crafted
hyperlink for the attack to work. On Excel 2003, even more work is
required, as users must also dismiss a warning pop-up window before the
malicious code can run.
"You’d really have to go out of your way in Excel 2003 to shoot yourself
in the foot," Maiffret said.
Microsoft has published suggested workarounds for the first attack, but
the company had little to say on this latest vulnerability.
"Microsoft is investigating reports of the posting," a spokeswoman for
the company’s public relations agency said Tuesday in an e-mail.
With Microsoft gradually shoring up the holes in its operating system
and browser software, hackers have been looking for new areas in which
to poke and prod for security vulnerabilities.
Office is proving to be one such spot. Just last week, Microsoft patched
a similarly critical hole in its Word software, and Office and Outlook
Express are now listed among the top sources of Internet security holes,
as rated by the SANS Institute.
— Robert McMillian, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)
Sans Institute link: http://www.sans.org/top20/
Microsoft offers guidance on Excel bug:
http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=22205
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