Vulnerability Note VU#468227

Microsoft Vista and Server 2008 vulnerable to memory corruption via saved search

Overview

Microsoft Windows Vista and Server 2008 contain a memory corruption vulnerability when saving a specially crafted search file. This vulnerability may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

I. Description

In Windows Vista and Server 2008, users can save searches as a search folder that is generated by a .search-ms XML file. Microsoft Windows fails to properly parse .search-ms files, which can result in memory corruption.

II. Impact

By convincing a user to save a specially crafted search specified by a .search-ms file, a remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

III. Solution

Apply an update

This vulnerability is addressed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-075. This bulletin also includes several workarounds, including changing the file association for .search-ms files and denying the ability to save searches.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Microsoft Corporation	Vulnerable		2008-12-09

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms08-075.mspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892885(VS.85).aspx

Credit

Thanks to Andre Protas of eEye for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

Date Public:	2008-12-09
Date First Published:	2008-12-09
Date Last Updated:	2008-12-09
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2008-4268
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2008-4268
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	4.39
Document Revision:	6