===================================================================== CERT-Renater Note d'Information No. 2008/VULN254 _____________________________________________________________________ DATE : 27/06/2008 HARDWARE PLATFORM(S) : / OPERATING SYSTEM(S) : Systems running Internet Explorer 6. ====================================================================== http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/923508 ______________________________________________________________________ Vulnerability Note VU#923508 Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 contains a cross-domain vulnerability Overview Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 is vulnerable to a cross-domain scripting violation, which can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to access the content of a web page in a different domain. I. Description IE uses a cross-domain security model to maintain separation between browser frames from different sources. This model is designed to prevent code in one domain from accessing data in a different domain. The Internet Security Manager Object determines in which zone or domain a URL exists and what actions can be performed. From Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-048: One of the principal security functions of a browser is to ensure that browser windows that are under the control of different Web sites cannot interfere with each other or access each other's data, while allowing windows from the same site to interact with each other. To differentiate between cooperative and uncooperative browser windows, the concept of a "domain" has been created. A domain is a security boundary - any open windows within the same domain can interact with each other, but windows from different domains cannot. The cross-domain security model is the part of the security architecture that keeps windows from different domains from interfering with each other. Internet Explorer 6 fails to properly enforce the cross-domain security model when a page location is modified through use of an object, rather than a string. Proof-of-concept code that demonstrates this vulnerability is publicly available. II. Impact By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML document (e.g., a web page or an HTML email message), an attacker may be able to obtain access to web content in another domain. The impact is similar to that of a cross-site scripting vulnerability. For a more detailed description of the impact of cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, please see CERT Advisory CA-2000-02. III. Solution We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem. Please consider the following workarounds: Apply an update This vulnerability does not appear to affect Internet Explorer 7. Therefore, updating to Internet Explorer 7 may mitigate this vulnerability. Disable Active Scripting This vulnerability can be mitigated by disabling Active Scripting, as specified in the "Securing Your Web Browser" document. Systems Affected Vendor Status Date Updated Microsoft Corporation Vulnerable 26-Jun-2008 References http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2000-02.html http://www.ph4nt0m.org-a.googlepages.com/PSTZine_0x02_0x04.txt http://secunia.com/advisories/30857/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1348 Credit This vulnerability was publicly disclosed by rayh4c. This document was written by Will Dormann. Other Information Date Public 06/18/2008 Date First Published 06/26/2008 11:27:57 AM Date Last Updated 06/27/2008 CERT Advisory CA-2000-02 CVE Name US-CERT Technical Alerts Metric 29.83 Document Revision 14 ====================================================================== ========================================================= Les serveurs de référence du CERT-Renater http://www.urec.fr/securite http://www.cru.fr/securite http://www.renater.fr ========================================================= + CERT-RENATER | tel : 01-53-94-20-44 + + 151 bd de l'Hopital | fax : 01-53-94-20-41 + + 75013 Paris | email: certsvp@renater.fr + =========================================================