Microsoft said it is working overtime to fix a flaw in Windows that a security company noted on Monday could soon be used by as many as 600 malicious Web sites.
Multiple versions of exploit code for the vulnerability in the "WebViewFolderIcon" ActiveX control -- also dubbed the "setslice" bug by some security organizations -- has been spotted on the Web, said the SANS Institute"s Internet Storm Center Monday. ISC raised its Internet threat status warning to "Yellow" on Friday to account for the spreading code.
"The exploit is widely known, easy to recreate, and used on more and more websites," the ISC alert read. "The risk of getting hit is increasing significantly and the type of users of the exploit are also not the least dangerous ones. Some of the exploits are believed to be linked to CWS (CoolWebSearch), which is notoriously hard to remove." CoolWebSearch is an adware package that tracks users movements on the Web that one anti-spyware vendor warns to "handle with care!"
Although the Redmond, Wash. developer has not issued a fix -- it"s shooting for Oct. 10 -- the independent Zeroday Emergency Response Team (ZERT) has produced an unsanctioned patch that should stymie attacks. ZERT, which first popped into the news Sept. 22 when it beat Microsoft to the VML fix punch by 4 days, has updated its ZProtector framework to account for the new vulnerability.