Fortinet Security Advisory: FSA-2006-08

Fortinet Security Advisory: FSA-2006-08

Microsoft Excel Column Index Improper Memory Access

Advisory Date : March 14, 2006
Reported Date : January 24, 2006
Vendor : Microsoft
Affected Products : Microsoft Excel 2003 Chinese Version
Windows XP Home Edition Chinese Version and
possible all versions of Microsoft Excel.
Severity : High
Reference : http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS06-012.mspx
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2006-0029
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/15780

Description : Fortinet Security Research Team (FSRT) has discovered a Improper Memory Access
Vulnerability in the Microsoft Excel software. This vulnerability is due to Microsoft Excel's manipulation of
opcode 0x001D, when provided with a random Column Index, it will cause a Improper Memory Access. An remote
attacker could construct a .xls file and put it on controlled web site. When the user opens the .xls file
with Microsoft Internet Explorer, the browser will call Microsoft Excel to open the .xls file automatically,
and this will cause Microsoft Excel to crash. If excel file is specially crafted, it may allow attackers to
execute arbitrary code on the affected system.

Impact : Execution of arbitrary code leading to system compromise.

Solution : Microsoft has released a update for this vulnerability, which is available for
downloading from Microsoft web site, see reference.

Fortinet Protection: FortiGate series of security systems have been updated to detect exploits targeting
this vulnerability.

Acknowledgment : Dejun Meng of Fortinet Security Research team found this vulnerability.

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