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Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook URL Obfuscation Issue
Secunia Advisory: SA11582
Release Date: 2004-05-10
Last Update: 2004-10-29
Popularity: 40,469 views

Critical:
Not critical
Impact: Spoofing
Where: From remote
Solution Status: Partial Fix

Software:Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x
Microsoft Office 2000
Microsoft Office 97
Microsoft Office XP
Microsoft Outlook 2000
Microsoft Outlook 2002
Microsoft Outlook 97
Microsoft Outlook 98
Microsoft Outlook Express 5

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CVE reference:CVE-2004-0526


Description:
http-equiv has discovered an issue in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express, allowing malicious people to obfuscate URLs.

The problem is that Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express fail to properly display the URL in the status bar if an image tag has been enclosed in a "A HREF" reference and uses a client side image map to specify the destination URL. This may cause a user to follow a link to a seemingly trusted website when in fact the browser opens a malicious website.

The issue has been confirmed in Outlook Express 6 and Internet Explorer 6 with all patches applied.

Reportedly, Outlook 2003 shows the correct URL.

NOTE: Phishing attacks exploiting this issue have been discovered in the wild.

Solution:
The issue does not affect Windows XP systems with SP2 installed.

Manually enter URLs received in emails.

Do not follow links from untrusted websites.

Provided and/or discovered by:
http-equiv

Changelog:
2004-06-02: Added information about exploitation in the wild.
2004-06-17: Added CVE reference.
2004-10-29: Added information about Windows XP SP2 not being affected.


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