Vulnerability Note VU#920060

Microsoft Windows HTML Help component fails to properly validate input data

Overview

There is a vulnerability in the HTML Help component of Microsoft Windows that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected system.

I. Description

Microsoft HTML Help provides a standard help system for the Windows operating system. There is a vulnerability in the way certain input data is processed by the HTML Help component. Exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute code of the attacker's choice if the attacker can convince the victim to view a specially crafted HTML document or click on a specially crafted URL in an HTML email message. For more information, please refer to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-023.

According to the Microsoft Security Bulletin, this issue is not related to previous vulnerabilities reported in the Help and Support Center (HSC) that were addressed in MS04-11 and MS04-15.

II. Impact

By convincing a victim to view a specially crafted HTML document or click on a specially crafted URL in an HTML email message, an attacker could execute arbitrary code on the victim's system.

III. Solution

Apply patch

Apply a patch as described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-023.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Microsoft Corporation	Vulnerable	14-Jul-2004

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-023.mspx
http://secunia.com/advisories/12059/
http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2004/Jul/1010690.html
http://www.securiteam.com/windowsntfocus/5TP0A15DGQ.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/htmlhelp/html/vsconHH1Start.asp

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by Microsoft. In turn, Microsoft credits Brett Moore of Security-Assessment.com for reporting this vulnerability to them.

This document was written by Damon Morda and based on information provided by Microsoft.

Other Information

Date Public:	2004-07-13
Date First Published:	2004-07-14
Date Last Updated:	2004-07-14
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2004-0201
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2004-0201
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	30.37
Document Revision:	14

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