Vulnerability Note VU#355707

Microsoft Office Web Components allows reading of local files via "LoadText" method by using URL redirection

Overview

The Microsoft Office Web Components allow a remote attacker to read arbitrary files.

I. Description

The Microsoft Office Web Components (OWC) are ActiveX controls that can be embedded in web pages. These controls give users of a website limited Microsoft Office functionality, without having to have the entire Office suite installed on their machine.

One of the controls allows a web page to load text into the window of a web browser. A flaw in this control allows a remote attacker to read arbitrary files on the vulnerable system. Note that in order to successfully exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would have to know the name and path to the file they wish to read.

For more information, please see Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-044.

II. Impact

An remote attacker can read arbitrary files on the vulnerable system.

III. Solution

Apply a vendor supplied patch.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Microsoft Corporation	Vulnerable	26-Aug-2002

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-044.asp
http://security.greymagic.com/adv/gm006-ie/
http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/8778.php
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/4453

Credit

Thanks to GreyMagic Software for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Ian A Finlay.

Other Information

Date Public:	2002-08-21
Date First Published:	2002-08-26
Date Last Updated:	2002-08-26
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2002-0860
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2002-0860
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	30.86
Document Revision:	24

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