{"id":3529,"date":"2013-09-19T10:00:36","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=3529"},"modified":"2013-09-19T10:00:36","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T14:00:36","slug":"hackers-exploit-critical-ie-bug-microsoft-promises-patch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/09\/19\/hackers-exploit-critical-ie-bug-microsoft-promises-patch\/","title":{"rendered":"Hackers exploit critical IE bug; Microsoft promises patch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2048958\/hackers-exploit-critical-ie-bug-microsoft-promises-patch.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/internet_explorer-100037559-gallery.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft on Wednesday said that hackers are exploiting a critical, but unpatched, vulnerability in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) and Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), and that its engineers are working on an update to plug the hole.<br \/>\nAs it often does, the company downplayed the threat.<br \/>\n\u201cThere are only reports of a limited number of targeted attacks specifically directed at Internet Explorer 8 and 9, although the issue could potentially affect all supported versions,\u201d Dustin Childs, a manager in the Trustworthy Computing group and its usual spokesman, said in a blog post Tuesday morning.<br \/>\n\u201cWe are actively working to develop a security update to address this issue,\u201d Childs added.<br \/>\nAccording to Childs and the security advisory Microsoft also published Wednesday, the vulnerability affects all supported versions of IE, from the 12-year-old IE6 to the not-yet-officially-released IE11, the browser that will accompany Windows 8.1 when it ships Oct. 18.<br \/>\n\u201cThere is no escaping this one,\u201d said Andrew Storms, director of DevOps at cloud security vendor CloudPassage, referring to the bug affecting all versions of Microsoft\u2019s browser. \u201cIE zero-days are never a good thing, especially when they affect every version,\u201d Storms added.<br \/>\nAlthough Microsoft\u2019s advisory did not put it in these terms, the vulnerability can be exploited using classic \u201cdrive-by\u201d attack tactics. That means hackers need only lure victims running IE to malicious sites\u2014or legitimate websites that have previously been compromised and loaded with attack code\u2014to hijack their browser and plant malware on their Windows PCs.<br \/>\nUntil Microsoft produces a patch, the company offered customers several options to protect themselves, including advice on configuring EMET 4.0 and running one of its \u201cFixit\u201d automated tools to \u201cshim\u201d the DLL that contains the IE rendering engine.<br \/>\nEMET (Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit) is a tool designed for advanced users, primarily enterprise IT professionals, that manually enables anti-exploit technologies such as ASLR (address space layout randomization) and DEP (data execution prevention) for specific applications.<br \/>\nBut the Fixit route will be easiest for individual users: Microsoft\u2019s posted a link to the Fixit tool on its support site, and customers need only click the icon marked \u201cEnable.\u201d Microsoft has used the shim approach before when faced with unexpected attacks against IE.<br \/>\nBased on past practice, Microsoft\u2019s Fixit workaround probably uses the Application Compatibility Toolkit to modify the core library of IE\u2014a DLL (dynamic link library) named \u201cMshtml.dll\u201d that contains the browser\u2019s rendering engine\u2014in memory each time IE runs. The shim does not quash the bug, but instead makes the browser immune to the attacks Microsoft\u2019s seen in the wild thus far.<br \/>\nUsers can also temporarily ditch IE for an alternate browser, such as Google\u2019s Chrome or Mozilla\u2019s Firefox, to stay safe until Microsoft comes up with a permanent fix.<br \/>\nMicrosoft today declined say when it plans to patch the IE vulnerability. But because the next regularly-scheduled Patch Tuesday is three weeks away, it\u2019s possible the Redmond, Wash. company\u2019s security team will deliver a so-called \u201cout-of-band\u201d update before Oct. 9.<br \/>\nOut-of-band updates from Microsoft are rare: The last one it shipped was MS13-008, an the emergency patch issued Jan. 14 that plugged a hole in IE6, IE7 and IE8 that had been exploited since early December 2012.<br \/>\nvia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2048958\/hackers-exploit-critical-ie-bug-microsoft-promises-patch.html\" target=\"_blank\">Hackers exploit critical IE bug; Microsoft promises patch | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft on Wednesday said that hackers are exploiting a critical, but unpatched, vulnerability in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) and Internet [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,7,9,11],"tags":[341,536],"class_list":["post-3529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft","category-security","category-software","category-windows","tag-exploit","tag-internet-explorer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-UV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5710,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/06\/10\/microsoft-pushes-out-massive-security-update-for-internet-explorer\/","url_meta":{"origin":3529,"position":0},"title":"Microsoft pushes out massive security update for Internet Explorer","author":"NCCT","date":"June 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft pushes out massive security update for Internet Explorer Six down, six to go. Today is the Microsoft Patch Tuesday for June, and it comes with seven new security bulletins. The good news is that five of the seven are only rated as Important, but one of the two Critical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6231,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/11\/microsoft-to-issue-many-windows-patches\/","url_meta":{"origin":3529,"position":1},"title":"Microsoft to issue many Windows patches","author":"NCCT","date":"August 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft has released their advance notification for the August 2014 Patch Tuesday updates. There will be a total of nine updates issued next Tuesday, August 12, two of them rated critical. The two critical bugs affect Windows and Internet Explorer. The critical Windows update affects only business and professional editions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3141,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/08\/08\/microsoft-to-release-three-critical-security-bulletins-tuesday-neowin\/","url_meta":{"origin":3529,"position":2},"title":"Microsoft to release three critical security bulletins Tuesday","author":"NCCT","date":"August 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In July, Microsoft released six critical security bulletins, out of a total of seven, for its software as part of its regular monthly Patch Tuesday event. For August, Microsoft will release a total of eight security bulletins but just three of them are considered critical. Microsoft's summary of this month's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5958,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/10\/crypto-certificates-impersonating-google-and-yahoo-pose-threat-to-windows-users\/","url_meta":{"origin":3529,"position":3},"title":"Crypto certificates impersonating Google and Yahoo pose threat to Windows users","author":"NCCT","date":"July 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"People using Internet Explorer and possibly other Windows applications could be at risk of attacks that abuse counterfeit encryption certificates recently discovered masquerading as legitimate credentials for Google, Yahoo, and possibly an unlimited number of other Internet properties. A blog post published Tuesday by Google security engineer Adam Langley said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/disguise-kit-640x728.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/disguise-kit-640x728.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/disguise-kit-640x728.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6254,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/20\/internet-explorer-running-slow-dialog-boxes-could-be-at-fault\/","url_meta":{"origin":3529,"position":4},"title":"Internet Explorer running slow? Dialog boxes could be at fault","author":"NCCT","date":"August 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019ve noticed Internet Explorer running slowly lately\u2014or just halting altogether\u2014here\u2019s one possible cause: dialog boxes. On Friday, the same day that Microsoft recommended users download the latest updates for Windows 7 and 8, Microsoft issued a hotfix for Internet Explorer. According to a support article issued Friday, \"web applications\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5780,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/06\/17\/preview-cutting-edge-internet-explorer-features-early-with-new-test-build-browser\/","url_meta":{"origin":3529,"position":5},"title":"Preview cutting-edge Internet Explorer features early with new test build browser","author":"NCCT","date":"June 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Developers can try out new features of the next version of Internet Explorer using a test edition Microsoft has released for their use. The Internet Explorer Developer Channel, which can be downloaded for Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1, runs independently of the user\u2019s copy of IE, allowing programmers to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}