Microsoft Explorer Denial of Service

[Luca Ercoli <io () lucaercoli it>]

Package: Microsoft Explorer
Auth: http://www.microsoft.com/
Vulnerability: Denial of Service
System(s) affected:

- Tested on Windows XP Home Edition [explorer 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)]
- Windows 2000 seem to be not vulnerable.
- Vulnerability has not been tested on other versions of Microsoft Windows


Disclaimer:
==========

The information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.
The author of this issue shall not be held liable for any
downtime, lost profits, or damages due to the informations 
contained in this advisory.


Summary:
-------

A vulnerability has been found in Microsoft Explorer (explorer.exe) for Windows XP,
which can be exploited by malicious user to compromise system stability
by consuming 99% CPU resources.


What causes the vulnerability?
-----------------------------

A vulnerability has been discovered in the way that
Microsoft Explorer processes image's attributes for 
the GIF file type.



Vulnerability Description:
-------------------------

A specially crafted image can be used to exploit this security flaw,
that will be triggered by navigating into a directory which 
contains a malicious file (rarely, in order to exploit the vulnerability,
you must select the malicious image using the mouse or the keyboard).



Exploit:
-------

www.lucaercoli.it/MSExplorer/exploder.zip



Vendor Status:
-------------

The vendor has not been contacted






Credits:
-- 

Luca Ercoli     <io [at] lucaercoli.it>
                http://www.lucaercoli.it