Excel flaw opens door to PC hijackers

It wouldn’t be the first time…

A hole in Microsoft Excel has been identified that could allow attackers to take control of a computer, a security group said on Thursday – the third vulnerability affecting the popular spreadsheet program to surface in less than a month.

The flaw is due to a memory corruption error that occurs when handling or repairing a document containing overly long styles, the French Security Incident Response Team (FrSIRT) said in an advisory.

The flaw, which affects Excel 2000, 2002 and 2003 and Office 2000, XP and 2003, “could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary commands by convincing a user to open and repair a specially crafted Excel file,” the advisory said.

A Microsoft representative said the company is investigating reports of a new vulnerability in Excel and was not aware of any attacks related to it.

Full story: silicon.com