Office ODBC Vulnerabilities

Security vulnerabilities in the Microsoft® Jet database engine which could allow a database query to take virtually any action on a user's computer.

Issue

Jet is a database engine used by Microsoft products such as Microsoft Office 97 and Office 2000. Two vulnerabilities exist in Jet:

• The "VBA Shell" vulnerability, which affects all versions of Jet except Jet 4.0. An operating system command embedded within a database query could be executed when the query is processed. This would allow a spreadsheet, database, or other application file that contained such a query to take virtually any action on the user's computer when the query was executed.
• The "Text I-ISAM" vulnerability, which affects all versions of Jet. Jet provides a way to modify the contents of text files, as a way of allowing data exchange between it and other systems. However, a malicious user could use this capability to modify system files via a database query. The original patch for this vulnerability allowed "drop table" operations to be used, which could allow files on the user's computer to be deleted; the new patch eliminates this variant.

Microsoft Office uses the Jet engine, and Office users are particularly at risk from these vulnerabilities. (The "VBA Shell" vulnerability affects all versions of Office prior to Office2000, and also affects one member of the Office2000 suite, Access2000. The "Text I-ISAM" vulnerability affects all versions of Office). The vulnerabilities are an especially serious threat to Office users for three reasons:

• Scenarios for exploiting these vulnerabilities via Office documents are publicly known.
• The ubiquity of Office would make it an attractive target for mounting attacks via these vulnerabilities.
• The ability of Office documents to perform Document Object Hosting would permit users to be attacked simply by visiting a malicious user's web site.

Microsoft Jet also is used by several other Microsoft products, as well as many third party applications. However, the ability to exploit this vulnerability through these products is highly dependent on the specific application. Although Microsoft has not identified a means of exploiting these vulnerabilities through any Microsoft products except Office, we recommend that all customers who have Microsoft Jet installed on their computer update it. This will ensure that they are protected against any possible attacks that may be developed.

Affected Products

• Microsoft Jet, all versions

Download

Patch: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/articles/mdac_typ.htm

Further Details

Source: Microsoft Corporation

Updated: October 8, 1999

>> Recommended Download - secure your PC from spyware, adware and malware now with Spyware Doctor <<