Secunia

Description

A vulnerability identified in Microsoft VM (Virtual Machine) shipped with almost all versions of Windows (except some versions of Windows XP) can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused by an input validation error in the ByteCode Verifier, since it doesn't check for certain malicious sequences of byte codes when loading Java applets. This can be exploited by crafting a special Java applet and include it in web page, which can either be hosted on a website or sent directly to a user in an email.

When a user on a vulnerable system views the malicious web page, the Java applet will be able to execute arbitrary code on the user's system with the user's privileges.

In the email scenario, the vulnerability can be exploited automatically to execute arbitrary code on the user's system when the malicious email is viewed. However, this is not possible if the user is viewing the malicious email in Outlook Express 6.0 or Outlook 2002 in their default configurations, or Outlook 98 or Outlook 2000 in conjunction with the Outlook Email Security Update.

To check the version number of the installed Microsoft VM:
1) Type "Jview" at the command line.
2) Look at the four last digits of the version number at the topmost line.

Though not confirmed, this vulnerability may be related to an older issue:
http://secunia.com/advisories/7587/
http://secunia.com/advisories/7651/

Solution
Update Microsoft VM to version 3810 or later.
Further details available in Customer Area

Original Advisory
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-011.asp

Deep Links
Links available in Customer Area