Vulnerability in Microsoft Image Processing Component

• Applications that process JPEG images on Microsoft Windows, including
  but not limited to
• Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Visual Studio
• Picture It!
• Applications from other vendors besides Microsoft

An attacker may be able to gain control of your computer by taking
advantage of the way some programs process the JPEG image format.

Solution

Apply a patch

Microsoft has issued updates to address the problem. Obtain the
appropriate update from Windows Update and from Office Update.

Note: You may need to install multiple patches depending what
software you have on your computer.

Use caution with email attachments

Never open unexpected email attachments. Before opening an attachment,
save it to a disk and scan it with anti-virus software. Make sure to
turn off the option to automatically download attachments.

View email messages in plain text

Email programs like Outlook and Outlook Express interpret HTML code
the same way that Internet Explorer does. Attackers may be able to
take advantage of that by sending malicious HTML-formatted email
messages.

Maintain updated anti-virus software

It is important that you use anti-virus software and keep it up to
date. Most anti-virus software vendors frequently release updated
information, tools, or virus databases to help detect and recover from
virus infections. Many anti-virus packages support automatic updates
of virus definitions. US-CERT recommends using these automatic updates
when possible.

Microsoft Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI+) is used to display information on screens
and printers, including JPEG image files. An attacker could execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system if the user opens a malicious JPEG file via applications such as a web browser, email program, internet chat program, or
via email attachment. Any application that uses GDI+ to process JPEG image files is vulnerable to this type of attack. This vulnerability also affects products from
companies
other than Microsoft.

References

• September 2004 Security Update for JPEG Processing (GDI+) – <http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/200409_jpeg.mspx>
• US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#297462 – <http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/297462>

Author: Mindi McDowell. Feedback
can be directed to US-CERT –>.

Copyright 2004 Carnegie Mellon University.
Terms of use

Revision History

• September 14, 2004: Initial release

Last updated

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