July 16, 2004 Bulletin

Window Flaw Could Attract New Worms and Viruses

An epidemic of new worms and viruses threatens to exploit several new vulnerabilities that were disclosed by Microsoft on July 13. Windows Shell (MS04-024) has been identified by security experts as a potential target for future attack. Microsoft warns that under certain conditions, an attacker could "take complete control of the affected system, including installing programs; viewing, changing, or deleting data; or creating new accounts with full privileges."

However, since this would require "significant user interaction" to work, the company does not consider consider the threat "critical" Microsoft rates the problem as 'important' rather than 'critical', because a user would actually have to download a file or open an e-mail attachment from an infected source. Nevertheless, the Windows Shell bug is likely to be a serious threat. According to Microsoft, Experts suggest that new worms or viruses that take advantage of these vulnerabilities should begin to appear in the next five to seven days.

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