Microsoft Outlook "mailto:" URI Handling Vulnerability

Secunia ID	SA29320
CVE-ID	CVE-2008-0110
Release Date	11 Mar 2008
Last Change	12 Mar 2008
Criticality	Highly Critical Typically used for remotely exploitable vulnerabilities that can lead to system compromise. Successful exploitation does not normally require any interaction but there are no known exploits available at the time of disclosure. Such vulnerabilities can exist in services like FTP, HTTP, and SMTP or in client systems like email programs or browsers.
Solution Status	Vendor Patch
Software	Microsoft Office 2000 Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Edition Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition Microsoft Office 2003 Standard Edition Microsoft Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition Microsoft Office 2007 Microsoft Office XP Microsoft Outlook 2000 Microsoft Outlook 2002 Microsoft Outlook 2003 Microsoft Outlook 2007
Where	From remote "From remote" describes other vulnerabilities where the attack vector doesn't require access to the system or a local network. This category covers services that are acceptable to expose to the Internet (e.g. HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP). It also covers client applications used on the Internet and certain vulnerabilities where it is reasonable to assume that a security conscious user can be tricked into performing certain actions.
Impact	System access This covers vulnerabilities where malicious people are able to gain system access and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of a local user.
Description	A vulnerability has been reported in Microsoft Outlook, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. The vulnerability is caused due to an error when handling a specially crafted "mailto:" URI passed from a web browser. This can be exploited to pass extra command line switches to Outlook. Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code when a user e.g. visits a malicious website.
Solution	Apply patches. Outlook 2000 SP3: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=714a49cd-5bca-4719-96a1-e1077f279533 Outlook 2002 SP3: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=59853687-d885-4059-9460-ee403855dbd8 Outlook 2003 SP2: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=fccc7c4c-8496-4682-bd46-6590503c1bf2 Outlook 2003 SP3: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=fccc7c4c-8496-4682-bd46-6590503c1bf2 Outlook 2007: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4e2baf00-88eb-4eb6-961a-54245b363c21
Reported by	Greg MacManus, iDefense Labs.
Original Advisory	MS08-015 (KB949031): http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-015.mspx iDefense Labs: http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=673