bratax has discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft HTML Help Workshop, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused due to a boundary error within the handling of a ".hhp" file that contains an overly long string in the e.g. "Contents file" or "Index file" field. This can be exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow and allows arbitrary code execution when a malicious ".hhp" file is opened.

NOTE: A working exploit is publicly available.

The vulnerability is confirmed in version 4.74.8702.0. Other versions may also be affected.

Solution
Do not open untrusted ".hhp" files.

Provided and/or discovered by
bratax

Changelog
Further details available to Secunia VIM customers

Original Advisory
http://users.pandora.be/bratax/advisories/b008.html

SkD:
http://milw0rm.com/exploits/7727

Other references
Further details available to Secunia VIM customers

Deep Links
Links available to Secunia VIM customers