funsec mailing list archives
RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk
From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 09:44:52 -0500
To disable .VBS, .JS, and .HTA files in Windows, a simple trick is to change the file extension associations for these file types to run Notepad. The hard part is figuring out all the relavent file types related to the Windows Scripting Host. Someone really needs to write an applet to make the changes to the registry. A bit of history. Windows Scripting Host, which most home PC users never use, was secretly bundled with IE5 around 2000. Not many people noticed this addition to Windows, except the guy who wrote the ILoveYou email worm. In talks on computer viruses, I joking tell people that "VBS" stands for "Virus Building System". On many people's PC, the first and only time WSH ever got used was to run the ILoveYou worm. Richard -----Original Message----- From: funsec-bounces () linuxbox org [mailto:funsec-bounces () linuxbox org] On Behalf Of Wolfe, James M Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 9:12 AM To: funsec () linuxbox org Subject: RE: [funsec] Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk I remember when the VBS viruses started making the rounds if you had an NT 4 machine you could simply delete scrrun.dll and you'd be OK. Win 2K on the other hand which was just coming out at the time would put the file back no matter if you deleted it, renamed it, or tried sticking in a zero byte file. So much for being able to remove features that you don't want. Regards, James -----Original Message----- From: funsec-bounces () linuxbox org [mailto:funsec-bounces () linuxbox org] On Behalf Of Richard M. Smith Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 8:03 PM To: funsec () linuxbox org Subject: [funsec] Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Re: http://news.com.com/Image-handling+flaws+put+Windows+PCs+at+risk/2100-10 02_3 -5940047.html?tag=nefd.top (AKA http://tinyurl.com/amy44) When I see these kind of bugs, I always wonder if there is some way to turn off the unneeded feature rather than getting a patch. Disabling the feature protects against the next security hole in the unneeded feature...... I also wonder if there is a some method of scanning the registry to learn about all the image file formats that IE supports in the <img> tag and similar tags. Last time I checked, the GIF and JPEG formats are all we need. Richard _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list. _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list. _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
Current thread:
- Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Richard M. Smith (Nov 08)
- Re: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Jeff Rosowski (Nov 08)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Wolfe, James M (Nov 09)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Richard M. Smith (Nov 09)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Barrie Dempster (Nov 10)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk James Eaton-Lee (Nov 10)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Wolfe, James M (Nov 10)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Barrie Dempster (Nov 10)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Drsolly (Nov 10)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk James Eaton-Lee (Nov 10)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Drsolly (Nov 10)
- RE: Re: Image-handling flaws put Windows PCs at risk Barrie Dempster (Nov 10)