Vulnerability Note VU#167928
Microsoft Word malformed string vulnerability
OverviewA vulnerability in Microsoft Word could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.
I. DescriptionMicrosoft Word contains a vulnerability that could be exploited when Word opens a specially crafted document. It is possible that the vulnerability can be exploited by opening a Microsoft Office document that includes an embedded Word document.
More information is available in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-014.
Note that reports claim this vulnerability is actively being exploited.
II. ImpactBy convincing a user to open a specially crafted Word document, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running Word. If the user is logged in with administrative privileges, the attacker could take complete control of a vulnerable system.
III. SolutionApply Update for Microsoft
Microsoft has addressed this vulnerability in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-014.
Do not open untrusted Word documents
Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected Word or other Office documents, particularly those hosted on web sites or delivered as email attachments. Please see Cyber Security Tip ST04-010.
Do not rely on file name extension filtering
In most cases, Windows will call Word to open a document even if the document has an unknown file extension. For example, if document.qwer contains the correct file header information, Windows will open document.qwer with Word. Filtering for common extensions (e.g., .doc, and .dot) will not detect all Word documents.
Disable automatic opening of Microsoft Office documents
By default, Microsoft Office 97 and Microsoft Office 2000 will configure Internet Explorer to automatically open Microsoft Office documents. This feature can be disabled by using the Office Document Open Confirmation Tool. Mozilla Firefox users should disable automatic opening of files, as specified in the Securing Your Web Browser document.
Systems Affected
References
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-014.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/929433.mspx
http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2006/12/15/update-on-current-word-vulnerability-reports.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2006/12/06/microsoft-security-advisory-929433-posted.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8B5762D2-077F-4031-9EE6-C9538E9F2A2F&displaylang=en
http://secunia.com/advisories/23232/
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-014.mspx
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/21451
Credit
This vulnerability was reported by Microsoft.
This document was written by Jeff Gennari.
Other Information
| Date Public | 12/05/2006 |
| Date First Published | 12/06/2006 09:04:14 AM |
| Date Last Updated | 02/23/2007 |
| CERT Advisory | |
| CVE Name | CVE-2006-5994 |
| US-CERT Technical Alerts | |
| Metric | 37.87 |
| Document Revision | 9 |
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