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IE7 Vulnerability Discovered

slidersv writes "Not 24 hours after the release of IE7, Secunia reports Internet Explorer Arbitrary Content Disclosure Vulnerability. So much for the "you wanted it easier and more secure" slogan found on Microsoft's IE Website."

30 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. two words by doti · · Score: 5, Funny

    ha ha

    --
    factor 966971: 966971
    1. Re:two words by parodyca · · Score: 5, Funny

      but that was only one word..... twice

    2. Re:two words by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Funny

      One word: Brillant!

    3. Re:two words by knightmad · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you are going to do, at least do it right:

      ha ha

    4. Re:two words by l_bratch · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not an issue - domains actually have a dot at the end, in the format, e.g.:

      blabla.tld.

      http://www.google.com/
      http://www.google.com./

      Both work.

    5. Re:two words by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How much you want to bet this guy found the vuln weeks ago, but held off on releasing it so he could brag that he discovered the first IE7 vuln, and it only took him less than 24hr!

    6. Re:two words by PylonHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, you're right.. it is traditional when releasing a new version of software to THROW OUT ALL YOUR CODE AND START OVER FROM SCRATCH.

      I love it when people in the cake decorating industry post to slash dot.

      --
      # (/.);;
      - : float -> float -> float =
  2. Re:Firefox by bagboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    What was wrong with gopher???

  3. IE7 Vulnerability Discovered by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 4, Funny

    In a very motherly voice:

    Oh Microsoft, what are we going to do with you, eh?

  4. Browsers are just too complex by cliffski · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thats the root of the problem. I'd wager 90% of the functioanlity for browsers is only used by 5% of end users. Granted a lot of stuff is demanded by web develoeprs who want fancy this, animated that, and sliding and fading the other, but to be honest, most of us dont need any of that junk.
    As end users, how much of browser bloat do we really need?
    I think there was a slashdot story asking for feature requests for firefox recently. my main request is this please:

    less of everything

    Its already at the case where im starting to notice how long it takes firefox to start. Sometimes more features does not mean better. Its like anything, cars, mobile phones, TVs, they all have major feature bloat.
    I found it actually impossible to buy a new mobile *without* internet access. Its insane. i remember when you didnt have an animated 'startup' screen for your phone, because the damned things just switched on.

    Feature bloat -> just say no :D

    --
    DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
    1. Re:Browsers are just too complex by Goaway · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here's your porch, here's your chair, and here's your lawn. Now repeat after me, "DAMN KIDS! GET OFFA MY LAWN!"

    2. Re:Browsers are just too complex by hey! · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thats the root of the problem. I'd wager 90% of the functioanlity for browsers is only used by 5% of end users.

      I don't think this is the case, because for the most part users don't choose which broswer features they use; web sites do that for them.

      However, I think the web development model is far too complex, which both causes site developers to create security holes in their applications, and creates many places for security holes to exist in the browser itself.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:Browsers are just too complex by acvh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While I agree with your No Bloat argument, you neglected an oft overlooked reason that IE contains all these "features", and it's not web developers. It's application developers. There are a slew of vertical market applications that many small to midsize companies are using, where the developer has dropped, or maybe never had, its own user interface, in favor of using IE and ActiveX controls. Insurance brokerages, medical practices, law firms and more, all of them have large, commercial, expensive applications available to them for running their businesses, and many of them are IE based. IE in these cases is just the front end to data stores running on everything from SQL Server on Intel to AIX on Power to whatever. Many times with no Internet connectivity at all.

      MSFT can't just disable, drop or change these features, because doing so could break an enter business. So they just pile up more and more code into an already chaotic program.

    4. Re:Browsers are just too complex by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Thats the root of the problem. I'd wager 90% of the functioanlity for browsers is only used by 5% of end users.

      You would lose that wager. 80%+ of the technology that makes web browsers tick is required just to show you a blasted web page. The standardized APIs allow a good way for JavaScript to then make those pages interactive. Not too many sites are JavaScript-free these days.

      What I think you're trying to say, is that features above and beyond the W3C standards are:

      1. Not useful
      2. Poor attempts at lockin
      3. Dangerous

      If Microsoft would just stick to the bloody standards, we'd all be better off. Unfortunately, they're still in 1995 mode, trying to beat Netscape at their own propertization game. It wouldn't surprise me if the requests for DOM 2 Events support were STILL ignored in this "final" release of IE7. *grumble* And Microsoft thinks developers will like them because of this?
  5. Old exploit by Iphtashu+Fitz · · Score: 4, Informative

    This exploit exists in IE6. It just means MS didn't fix it in IE7. It's not like it's a new exploit that was quickly discovered within the few hours after IE7 was released.

    1. Re:Old exploit by abaddononion · · Score: 5, Interesting
      This exploit exists in IE6. It just means MS didn't fix it in IE7. It's not like it's a new exploit that was quickly discovered within the few hours after IE7 was released.

      To me, at least, that's kind of the point. I mean, this is an old old IE6 bug, that M$ has known about for a certainly reasonable amount of time. Yet, they still haven't fixed it. And not to say it's a big deal that they haven't fixed it in IE6 yet. It's not like it's a Critical Priority bug (no pirates can steal Windows or MP3s because of it). But they point is, they did their whole "We heard you" campaign, and claimed IE7 was going to be this great new secure landscape... and they didn't even clean up the old IE6 bugs they KNEW about? I mean, seriously, at this point are we supposed to believe that they're even trying?
    2. Re:Old exploit by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, you could argue that it was quickly discovered to still exist in IE7. Interestingly, this vulnerability contradicts claims that IE7 is a rewrite. Clearly, it is not.

      --
      "Sufferin' succotash."
  6. Misunderstanding by MrSquishy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe the line should read "You wanted it easier AND more secure?".

  7. Let's be fair by Lars+T. · · Score: 5, Informative

    The same problem is known on IE 6 since April 2006

    --

    Lars T.

    To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    1. Re:Let's be fair by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That makes it worse. Not only is IE7 not a "rewrite" as some claimed, but it doesn't fix known vulnerabilities in its previous version. At least if it was new code, you could understand and expect an unknown vulnerability.

      --
      "Sufferin' succotash."
  8. Yawn. by Honest+Olaf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stretch. Scratch.

    Oh, an IE vulnerability? That's cool man.

    Hey, anyone want to get some lunch?

  9. Re:Firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually Firefox has a similar vulnerability, which has been unpatched for months (as a design decision - there is no way to patch it without breaking useful stuff).

    This is a new report of a old vulnerability which isn't serious. The fact that it's been released "not 24 hours" after IE 7 was released is, I would think, because someone decided to release it to coincide with the launch.

  10. IE7 maybe not vulnerable? by jrsp · · Score: 5, Informative

    IE7, freshly installed this morning, on XP SP2 reports not vulnerable. Perhaps it was already patched, or the exposure is more limited than the post implies...

    Not an MS fan, but truth and accuracy are always good.

  11. Helllloo? by thepotoo · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Last time I checked, Firefox was open source. You are more than welcome to fork the project and make a "lite" version. I would probably give it a try.

    But, don't forget that if you strip away too much, you'll end up with Lynx. Some people like at least images and css, you know?

    --
    Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
  12. Re:Firefox by GuidoW · · Score: 4, Informative

    Excuse, but where did you read that FF has that exact same vulnerability?

    Also, even though FF does have issues, I believe you'll be hard pressed to find a vulnerability in FF that has been known for years and still gone unfixed. (According to heise on http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/79745 this is actually an old bug that also affects IE 6)

    --
    If it's so secret, then how come I've never heard of it?
  13. Re:Lynx vs. links. Security? Standards? Usability? by rk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Links? Lynx? You're all wimps.

    I posted this by hand using "telnet slashdot.org 80".

  14. Using Vista RC1 by Utopia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Secunia test says I am not vulnerable with Vista RC1

    Vista RC1 was released almost a month ago.
    So I am surprised this new XP IE7 build still exibits this issue.

    Looking at the source, I suspect this is not a IE issue at all, instead this is a MSXML issue.
    Vista has anewer version of MSXML.
    XP IE7 seems to be using the older version.

  15. Re:Come on by truthsearch · · Score: 4, Informative

    This IE hole requires no user interaction. Unlike the firefox bugs he links to a simple web page can leverage this IE hole with no extra user input. And considering the URI exploited is used within email I'd imagine Outlook is susceptable, too. So the firefox vulnerabilities mentioned are much less likely to be exploited than this IE hole.

  16. Re:Lynx vs. links. Security? Standards? Usability? by aymanh · · Score: 4, Funny

    You need a computer program to post? How amateurish! I'm posting this by waving a magnet next to a phone cable ;)

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    python>>> q="'";s='q="%c";s=%c%s%c;print s%%(q,q,s,q)';print s%(q,q,s,q)
  17. So much for "more secure"? by Trillan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dude, 24 hours is more secure for Internet Explorer.