Last week, news broke that the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DoL) website was compromised… and that it had been serving up Internet Explorer 0day to its visitors. This 0day, CVE-2013-1347 (Retina Audit 19041 - Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (Zero-Day)), only affects Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 (as well as Server 2003, 2008, and 2008 R2). However, the exploit used on the U.S. Department of Labor website only targeted Windows XP machines. Here’s what else you need to know:
• Metasploit module available, targeting Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista, and Windows 7 (PowerBroker Endpoint Protection Platform detects and defeats this module)
• Blocking/disabling Active Scripting in both Internet and intranet zones mitigates exploitation
• Highly likely this vulnerability will be used by exploit packs in the immediate future
• Vulnerability based on reliable use-after-free condition (mshtml!CGenericElement)
• Grants arbitrary code execution within the context of the currently logged on user (least privilege environment, anyone?)
So what can you do right now to protect your organization? If possible, use another browser like Chrome or Firefox, disable Active Scripting if you still have to use IE8, do not run as Administrator, and finally, upgrade - Internet Explorer 9 and 10 are not vulnerable to this issue.
Update 5-9-2013: Microsoft has released a Fix it for this 0day.
Scott Lang, Sr. Director, Product Marketing at BeyondTrust
Scott Lang has nearly 20 years of experience in technology product marketing, currently guiding the product marketing strategy for BeyondTrust’s privileged account management solutions and vulnerability management solutions. Prior to joining BeyondTrust, Scott was director of security solution marketing at Dell, formerly Quest Software, where he was responsible for global security campaigns, product marketing for identity and access management and Windows server management.