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Security Alert

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

COLOR="#ff0000" face="Arial" size="2">Vulnerability in Forms 2.0 ActiveX control COLOR="#000000">

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Problem: face="Arial" size="2"> There is a vulnerability in the Forms 2.0 ActiveX control. This

control is distributed in any application that includes Visual Basic for Applications 5. A

malicious hacker can use the Forms 2 control to read or export text on a user’s

clipboard when a user visits a Website set up by a hacker or opens an HTML-e-mail created

by a hacker.

Who’s affected:

The following versions of

software that install Forms 2.0 are affected: Office 97, Outlook 98, Project 98, Visual

Basic 5 or any other third party software that includes VB for Applications 5. In order to

check whether your system is affected by this vulnerability, right-click the

"Fm20.dll" file in the Windows> System folder and choose properties from the

shortcut menu. If the date of the file is earlier than January 11, 1999, then your system

is affected by this vulnerability.

Impact and solution:

The Forms 2.0 is an ActiveX

component that allows text to be pasted from your clipboard to a text- or combo-box. This

control has a vulnerability that allows text to be pasted from a user’s clipboard to

Forms 2.0 text- or combo-box. This control is installed as a standard part of applications

that use VB for Applications 5. The Forms 2.0 is an ActiveX

component that allows text to be pasted from your clipboard to a text- or combo-box. This

control has a vulnerability that allows text to be pasted from a user’s clipboard to

Forms 2.0 text- or combo-box. This control is installed as a standard part of applications

that use VB for Applications 5.

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A malicious hacker can cause the Forms 2.0 Control to read

or export text from the user’s clipboard when a user visits a Website set up by him,

or opens an HTML-e-mail created by a malicious hacker.

Patch for this vulnerability is available from Microsoft on

the Office Update site at http://officeupdate.microsoft. com/downloaddetails/fm2paste.htm.

You just have to download "Fm2paste. exe" and run it to install the patch. In

this patch Microsoft has updated two ActiveX control files: Fm20.dll and Fm20enu.dll, in

order to prevent a hacker from being able to view the contents of a user’s clipboard.

On installing this patch, a user doesn’t lose any

functionality and is still able to paste content from the clipboard to a Web page or other

document.

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Vulnerability in Word 97 template COLOR="#000000">

Problem: face="Arial" size="2"> A vulnerability exists in Word 97 which permits macros to run

without warning when a user opens a document based on the template containing macros. A

hacker can exploit this vulnerability to cause malicious macro code to be run without

warning if a user opens a Word attachment that was sent by a hacker, or posted on a

Website controlled by the hacker. This macro can possibly be used to damage or retrieve

data on a user’s system.

Who’s affected:

These using Word 97 will be

affected by this vulnerability.

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Impact and solution:

Word 97 follows a standard

safety measure by which it warns users when a document containing macros is opened.

However, it may happen that the document itself may not contain macros, but it could be

linked to a template that contains macros. In this case, Word 97 doesn’t issue any

warning. Word 97 follows a standard

safety measure by which it warns users when a document containing macros is opened.

However, it may happen that the document itself may not contain macros, but it could be

linked to a template that contains macros. In this case, Word 97 doesn’t issue any

warning.

A hacker can exploit this vulnerability to cause malicious

macro code to run without warning. This can happen in two ways: if a user opens a Word

document attached to an e-mail sent by the hacker, or if the user opens a Word document on

a Website controlled by the hacker. This malicious macro can be used to damage or retrieve

data on a user’s system.

Microsoft has released a patch for this vulnerability.

It’s downloadable from href="http://http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloaddetails/wd97sp.htm">http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloaddetails/wd97sp.htm.

Installing this patch doesn’t disable the use of templates or macros on templates.

However, after installing the patch, users will be issued a warning before they launch a

document containing macros.

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Vulnerability in IIS "malformed FTP list

request"

Problem: face="Arial" size="2"> There is a vulnerability in the Internet Information Server FTP

service that allows denial of service attacks against the server or under certain

conditions can allow arbitrary code to be executed on the server.

Who’s affected:

This vulnerability affects

Microsoft Internet Information Server versions 3 and 4. This vulnerability affects

Microsoft Internet Information Server versions 3 and 4.

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Impact and solution:

The FTP service in IIS has an

unchecked buffer in a component that processes "list" commands. This results in

a vulnerability that poses a malformed "list" request which can cause buffer

overflow error, resulting in a denial of service threat, causing the server to crash.

Also, a carefully constructed "list" request can cause arbitrary code to execute

on the server via a classic buffer overrun technique. The FTP service in IIS has an

unchecked buffer in a component that processes "list" commands. This results in

a vulnerability that poses a malformed "list" request which can cause buffer

overflow error, resulting in a denial of service threat, causing the server to crash.

Also, a carefully constructed "list" request can cause arbitrary code to execute

on the server via a classic buffer overrun technique.

The "list" command is only available to users

after they have authenticated to the server. Therefore, only users who are authorized to

use the server would be able to mount such an attack. Their presence on the server could

be logged if the owner of the site chose to do so. However, many sites provide guest

accounts, and this could be used by a malicious user to attack the server anonymously.

Microsoft has posted hot fixes for this vulnerability on href="http://ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/iis/iis-public/fixes/usa/security/ftpls-fix/">ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/iis/iis-public/fixes/usa/security/ftpls-fix/.

Versions are available for x86 and alpha versions of IIS 3

and IIS 4. However, these patches can only be installed on the top of Win NT 4 with

Service Pack 4.

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