A new vulnerability in Windows systems emerged during the
festive season. Amazingly, Microsoft seems to be taking their time
to release a fix, when there are virus authors out there slogging
their brains out exploiting this vulnerability.
No browser is safe
from this vulnerability!
The browser doesn't ask you whether you wanna load a picture on a
website. It can still make sure of this vulnerability when its
extension is different from .wmf! All it needs to do is host an
image on a website and you just have to visit it and ops, you got
it.
Basic rules still applies here. DO NOT click on links from unknown
emails, attachments or unknown links in chatrooms.
What might an attacker use the vulnerability to
do?
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could
take complete control of the affected system. In a Web-based attack
scenario, an attacker would host a Web site that exploits this
vulnerability. An attacker would have no way to force users to
visit a malicious Web site. Instead, an attacker would have to
persuade them to visit the Web site, typically by getting them to
click a link that takes them to the attacker's site. It could also
be possible to display specially crafted Web content by using
banner advertisements or by using other methods to deliver Web
content to affected systems.
If I block .wmf files by extension, can this protect me
against attempts to exploit this vulnerability?
No. Because the Graphics Rendering Engine determines file type by
means other than just looking at the file extensions, it is
possible for WMF files with changed extensions to still be rendered
in a way that could exploit the vulnerability.
Get the Unofficial
fix here!
Article about
it on Internet Storm Center
Another
article by F-Secure
Microsoft
Security Advisory (912840)
And
lastly, a video of the virus infecting a system