Microsoft ActiveX flaw could be Conficker 2.0
Thursday, July 9, 2009
An unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Video ActiveX Control could lead to infections of millions of PCs, on par with the Conficker worm, a web security researcher said.
Roger Thompson, chief research officer at AVG Technologies, said the cybercriminals behind the Conficker worm, which could have infected as many as 12 million PCs worldwide with malware, could see the Microsoft flaw as "the next thing," according to IDG News Service.
The vulnerability lies mainly affects users of Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP. Microsoft said an attacker who successfully exploits this security vulnerability could take control of a user's PC using a maliciously crafted website.
Web security firm PandaLabs said this week that it has detected over one hundred web pages, mainly hosted in China, modified to infect users by exploiting the vulnerability. Some of the sites have been infecting visitors with a Trojan horse - Lineage.LAC. A - which steals user information and uses rootkit techniques.
"The real danger of this vulnerability lies in the fact that any user could be infected, despite having their operating system completely up-to-date," said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs. "They just have to visit an infected Web page, even a legitimate one, to fall victim to the infection."
Although Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are unaffected by this vulnerability, Microsoft is recommending that customers remove support for ActiveX Control within Internet Explorer.
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