MSI :: State of Security

Insight from the Information Security Experts

US-CERT Issues Warning for Excel Trojan

Posted on March 11, 2008 by Nathan Grandbois

The US-CERT has issued a warning in response to a Trojan actively exploiting MS08-014. First off, MS08-014 is for Microsoft Excel. The patch was released today that fixes critical vulnerabilities in MS Excel. These vulnerabilities could be exploited via a maliciously crafted Excel file to take complete control over a users system. Secondly, the Trojan they speak of is spreading through email with Excel attachments. The two attachment file names that US-CERT is aware of are OLYMPIC.xls and SCHEDULE.xls. These files may also contain Windows executables that can compromise an affected system. Patch now please.

Excel Exploit In The Wild

Posted on January 16, 2008 by Adam Hostetler

Microsoft reported today that a previously unknown vulnerability in Excel is being actively exploited. According to the release the issue affects older versions of Excel, including Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Service Pack 2, Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2002, Microsoft Office Excel 2000, and Microsoft Excel 2004 for OS X. The exploit requires the victim to open a malicious Excel file in order for the exploit to execute.

There is currently no fix for this issue, other than being very careful about which Excel files are opened. Microsoft said that they are working on a fix that may come out before the next patch cycle.

Microsoft’s advisory is at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/947563.mspx