“Microsoft has warned of a serious – and as yet unpatched vulnerability – in Word. Hackers (albeit to a limited extent) are exploiting the zero-day flaw in its ubiquitous Office application, Redmond warns,” John Leyden reports for The Register.
Leyden reports, “The flaw – which stems from an unspecified memory corruption bug – doesn’t just affect Windows users. Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft Word 2004 v. X for Mac, along with Microsoft Works 2004, 2005, and 2006 are all potentially vulnerable. Users tricked into opening maliciously constructed Word files are liable to find their systems compromised.”
More info and links here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Chas” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: Microsoft’s Security Advisory (929433 – almost time to add another digit there, M’Soft) states: “In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious Word file attached to an e-mail or otherwise provided to them by an attacker. As a best practice, users should always exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments from both known and unknown sources. Do not open or save Word files that you receive from untrusted sources or that you receive unexpectedly from trusted sources.
Related MacDailyNews article:
Mac users should not buy Microsoft software (or hardware) – May 16, 2003