Internet Explorer Problems for IE 6, IE 7, IE 8 Confirmed by Microsoft; Internet Explorer 9 and 10 Not Affected

Microsoft has confirmed a few issues with a few Internet Explorer browsers.

A security advisory by Microsoft detailed they are investigating public reports of a "vulnerability" in Internet Explorer version 6, 7, and 8. So far, Internet Explorer 9 and 10 are not affected.

"Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks that attempt to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer 8," stated the Security Advisory.

"The vulnerability is a remote code execution vulnerability that exists in the way that Internet Explorer accesses an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated," Microsoft added. "The vulnerability may corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user within Internet Explorer. An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website."

According to Microsoft the following are the mitigating factors:

- "By default, Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 runs in a restricted mode that is known as Enhanced Security Configuration. This mode mitigates this vulnerability."

- "By default, all supported versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Windows Mail open HTML email messages in the Restricted sites zone. The Restricted sites zone, which disables script and ActiveX controls, helps reduce the risk of an attacker being able to use this vulnerability to execute malicious code. If a user clicks a link in an email message, the user could still be vulnerable to exploitation of this vulnerability through the web-based attack scenario."

- "An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights."

- "In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website that contains a webpage that is used to exploit this vulnerability. In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements could contain specially crafted content that could exploit this vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit these websites. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to visit the website, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's website."

Microsoft noted they will take the appropriate measure to protect its customers which includes providing a security update either in their monthly updates or out-of-cycle security update.