The browser flaw which allows attackers to hijack a computer by using Internet Explorer to launch Firefox is affecting other applications as well. Security researchers Nate McFeters, Billy Rios and Raghav Dube have disclosed information and working exploit code for a similar vulnerability in Trillian. Like the Firefox attack, the Trillian exploit uses a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) function as the point of attack.
The URI allows the browser to launch a third-party application on the user"s system in much the same way that a URL is used to access a web page. When the user visits a specially-crafted page, the application is launched and attack code is run to crash the application and execute code. The attack could be used to remotely install malware on a user"s system.