Vulnerability Note VU#668916

Microsoft Windows Explorer vulnerable to script injection via the Web View DLL

Overview

Windows Explorer is vulnerable to script injection via the Web View DLL. Exploitation of this vulnerability may lead to execution of arbitrary code.

I. Description

Windows Explorer uses the Web View DLL (webvw.dll) to display information about a selected file/folder (file size, author, version, creation date, etc.) within an HTML based preview pane. A vulnerable situation may arise when the webvw.dll is supplied a specially crafted author name embedded in the metadata of a file/folder. If the author name resembles an email address, the webvw.dll will create an email hyperlink to display in the preview pane. Please note that the preview pane and web view is enabled by default. Any application that uses webvw.dll may be vulnerable.

This issue affects Windows Explorer on the following platforms:

Windows 2000 Professional
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2000 Advanced Server

For a full list of affected platforms, please reference Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-024.

II. Impact

If a remote attacker can persuade a user to select a specially crafted file with Windows Explorer, that attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the compromised user.

III. Solution

Microsoft has released a patch in Security Bulletin MS05-024 to address this issue.

Disable Web View

Disabling the Web View feature will greatly reduce the chances of exploitation. Web View can be disabled by switching to the "Use Windows classic folders" option within the Folder Options of Windows Explorer.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Microsoft Corporation	Vulnerable	10-May-2005

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS05-024.mspx
http://www.greymagic.com/security/advisories/gm015-ie/
http://secunia.com/advisories/15017/
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/13248

Credit

This vulnerability was reported in a GreyMagic security advisory and is resolved by Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-024.

This document was written by Jeff Gennari and Ken MacInnis and was based on information provided in the security bulletins mentioned above.

Other Information

Date Public:	2005-04-19
Date First Published:	2005-05-10
Date Last Updated:	2005-05-13
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2005-1191
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2005-1191
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	19.28
Document Revision:	57

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