Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 / Firefox 0.8 / OmniWeb 4.x - URI Protocol Handler Arbitrary File Creation/Modification

Author: Karol Wiesek
type: remote
platform: windows
port: 
date_added: 2004-05-13
date_updated: 2013-01-15
verified: 1
codes: 
tags: 
aliases: 
screenshot_url: 
application_url: 

source: https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/10336/info

A vulnerability has been identified in multiple products from multiple vendors that may allow a remote attacker to create or modify arbitrary files; these issues relate to the processing of URI requests via various protocol handlers including telnet, rlogin, ssh and mailto.

The vulnerability presents itself because applications fail to validate URI input; if a '-' character precedes the host name it is possible to pass options to an application that handles the protocol.

Successful exploitation of this issue may allow a remote attacker to create or modify arbitrary files, resulting in a denial of service condition in the browser. The attack would occur in the context of the user running the vulnerable browser.

telnet://-fFileName
telnet://-nFilename