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Security Hole discovered by Fabio Ciucci during the last week of
October 1998. Only one Kb of .class file is required (it's a special Java applet
who uses the "modified" java specifications by Microsoft) to crash not
only Explorer 4.0, 4.1 (and Explorer 5 beta too!), but the whole Windows system
(Windows 95, and Windows 98): all the open tasks are lost immediately, and a
reboot is required.
On Windows NT, Internet Explorer crashes, but the
operating system in most cases is still usable.
Warning: I hope it will not happen, but if others will release free
versions of applets containing this bug, virtually every internet page will
become dangerous, and same for e-mails attachments: users will have no time to
hevitate the total crash and loss of not saved work. This is why I call this
more a security hole than a bug.
This is why I don't disclosed the
informations required to re-create the bug, and why I protected and obfuscated
the applet to make it unusable outside www.anfyjava.com.
But, I think is a
right of internet users to know the existence of this security hole.
NOTE:
The applet will NOT RUN in true and 100% pure Java environments, such as
Netscape Navigator, Sun's HotJava or using the Java Plugin.
As explained before, Java is a secure and reliable technology,
and the bug is only present in NON STANDARD Java modifications done by Microsoft
in his Internet Explorer 4 on Windows systems (the applet will not work
on Explorer 3 or previous, and in Apple Mac Explorer).
Articles
about Microsoft not standard (incompatible) java implementation, and this
security hole:
From: "Sun free to terminate Microsoft's
Java contract", PC Week Online:
"With a ruling due
anytime now in the Java case between Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems, a key
date has come and gone -- the first anniversary of the suit -- and that means
Sun now has the right to terminate Microsoft's Java license."
From:
"DirectDraw
bug causes crashes", CNET News.com:
"This is a
denial-of-service problem in that it prevents you from using the system,"
said Microsoft product manager for platform marketing Joe Herman. "[Ciucci's]
applet is hanging the system, and it's a bug that we need to correct.",
Herman did not know when Microsoft would issue a patch.
Here you
can test the bug on your system, at your own risk: in no event the author of
the applet or its suppliers will be liable for any lost revenue, profit, or for
direct, special, indirect, consequential, incidental or punitive damages how
ever caused and regardless of theory of liability, even if the author have been
advised of the possibility, in 99% of cases, of such damages.
WARNING: Clicking the button, Windows will
CRASH!
WARNUNG: Wenn Sie die Schaltfläche anklicken, wird Windows ABSTÜRZEN!
ATTENTION: Cliquer sur le bouton et Windows PLANTERA!
?x???F,»,Ìf{f^f?,ðfNfSfbfN,·,é,Æ?AWindows,ÍfNf?fbfVf?,µ,Ü,·?I
LA ADVERTENCIA: apretando el botón, Windows ESTRELLARA!
ATENÇÃO:
Clicando no botão, o Windows TRAVARÁ!
ATTENZIONE: Premendo il
bottone, Windows si BLOCCA!
For communications, contact me throught the contact page on the
www.anfyjava.com main site, where
you can download for free Anfy
Java 1.2, my awarded tool, useful to add special effects to html pages.
I discovered the Explorer bug during the developing of the new version of this
program, trying to use the "not standard" Microsoft java
modifications, just following the official documentation, but the result was in
finding those modifications are not working in some cases, and even extremely
dangerous in this particular case.
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