AOL instant-messaging software AIM contains flaw

***Steve*** · 18-10-2007, 07:15

AOL LLC has patched a serious flaw in its instant-messaging software AIM, but it may not close all the loopholes fully. The flaw affects how the AIM software uses Internet Explorer's software to render HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) messages. By sending a maliciously encoded HTML message to an AIM user, an attacker could run unauthorized software on a victim's computer or force the IE browser to visit a maliciously encoded Web page.

AOL was first informed of the problem around the beginning of September, and the 6.5 update, released on October 3, was supposed to address this bug. However, security researcher Aviv Raff said that he'd examined the AIM 6.5 release and discovered that AOL had not fixed the underlying problem.

Researchers have often warned that IM is gaining popularity as an attack vector. Akonix has tallied 297 malicious code attacks for the first nine months of this year.

18-10-2007, 07:15	#1 (permalink)
*Steve* Pixalo Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: An Englishman living in Germany Posts: 15,969	AOL instant-messaging software AIM contains flaw AOL LLC has patched a serious flaw in its instant-messaging software AIM, but it may not close all the loopholes fully. The flaw affects how the AIM software uses Internet Explorer's software to render HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) messages. By sending a maliciously encoded HTML message to an AIM user, an attacker could run unauthorized software on a victim's computer or force the IE browser to visit a maliciously encoded Web page. AOL was first informed of the problem around the beginning of September, and the 6.5 update, released on October 3, was supposed to address this bug. However, security researcher Aviv Raff said that he'd examined the AIM 6.5 release and discovered that AOL had not fixed the underlying problem. Researchers have often warned that IM is gaining popularity as an attack vector. Akonix has tallied 297 malicious code attacks for the first nine months of this year. __________________ .......__o .......\<, ....( )/ ( )

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