Vista exploit surfaces

The first exploit since the completion of Windows Vista has surfaced, according to a confirmation by Microsoft Security Response Center head Mike Reavey. The vulnerability corrupts Windows' MessageBox protocol to raise system privileges, which could result in much more control over a system than what Microsoft allows by default. Although the exploit is currently limited to a proof of concept released on a Russian forum and demands that the malicious user already have administrative access, it has already garnered attention for challenging Microsoft's claim that Vista is more secure than its predecessors, according to Electronista. The attack is known to work across multiple versions of Windows -- including Windows 2000, says Reavey. Microsoft does not believe the threat to be serious but promises to closely follow any attempts to use it in the wild.

by MacNN Staff