Outlook and IE bug spotted

A new bug has been disclosed by eEye Digital Security. It is a buffer-overflow flaw potentially allowing attackers to execute malicious code on a system. The bug affects default installations of Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer on Windows 2000 and Windows XP with Service Pack 1 installed, although eEye said additional versions of Windows may also be affected.

According to Microsoft it is investigating the problem, and may issue a fix in the future. The company said it isn’t aware of any exploits using the flaw. In order to minimise the danger from unpatched bugs, eEye doesn’t disclose more than the bare minimum of information on a flaw until it has been patched or the vendor has tested a workaround.

Security researchers usually urge vendors to patch flaws within a few weeks of the initial report, arguing that bugs can be detected by potential attackers just as easily as by legitimate researchers. eEye alone says it has nine bug reports awaiting patches from Microsoft, the oldest of which dates from the end of March. Most are high-risk, affecting software such as Internet Explorer, Outlook and system-level software. Information on advisories can be found at http://www.eeye.com /html/research/upcoming/index.html.