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Third Microsoft Word Code Execution Exploit Posted

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the doors-wide-open dept.

gregleimbeck writes "Exploit code for a third, unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Word has been posted on the Internet, adding to the software maker's struggles to keep up with gaping holes in its popular word processing program. The attack code, available at Milw0rm.com, contains sample Word documents that have been rigged to launch code execution exploits when the file is opened."

5 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. This appears to affect OpenOffice 2.0.4? by Rupan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I tried to open the PoC with OpenOffice 2.0.4 and it crashed. Can someone confirm?

    ooffice2 12122006-djtest.doc /usr/lib/openoffice/program/soffice: line 236: 12793 Segmentation fault "$sd_prog/$sd_binary" "$@"

    This may not be a code execution bug; I'll try to trace it with gdb to see what happens.

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    1. Re:This appears to affect OpenOffice 2.0.4? by Gothmolly · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ...imagine what could be done with 10k of executable code

      Run Visicalc?

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  2. Kinda limits Word's functionality, dontcha think? by kbob88 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Microsoft suggests that users "do not open or save Word files,"
    I really like this quote! That kind of limits the functionality of a word processor if you can't open or save files, right?

    What exactly does Microsoft suggest that I do with Word files? Besides using them to fragment my hard-disk? Maybe I can burn them to keep warm in the winter... um, no.

    Or perhaps I'll just use Word to create and save HTML files!!
  3. Re:Wait, who still uses M$ 0ffice? by phrasebook · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I tried switching my dad to Open Office when we couldn't find the MS Office CD - he immediately complained that the small fonts he was using in his spreadsheets (less than 8 points) didn't render nicely in OO compared to Excel, so he went and bought a copy of Office 2003.

    Little things like that count for a lot. OO might be more secure than MS Office, but it's terrible quality software in user-visible ways (i.e. it's ugly, slow and bloated). These things count to people. Little problems can't just be overlooked because it's free. My dad could pick it apart within minutes, and he doesn't normally care about software at all. He didn't care about paying for Office either, in fact he didn't think twice about it.

    That's why. Nothing to do with TCO, Microsoft being evil, security, monopoly or anything else. OpenOffice just isn't very good in the ways that count to regular users.

  4. Re:Wait, who still uses M$ 0ffice? by Vengeance_au · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We use both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice in our company. OO is for all internal documents, and Microsoft Office is used for external client work - purely for interoperability with corporate / government clients. Open Office can save into Microsoft Office format, but there are invariably subtle differences in the final layout - and that is just plain unacceptable.

    In the past 12 months a few clients have started using OO and we now share OO documents with them - but they are by far the minority. Hopefully the new "Open" format Microsoft is coming out with will break the barrier down, and allow pixel-perfect interoperability, but until then it is very difficult to operate in a corperate world without the "de-facto" Microsoft Office standard.