Microsoft reveals zero-day attacks against Word

The exploit that attackers are using to target a zero day vulnerability in Microsoft Word relies on a complex series of pieces, including an ASLR bypass, ROP techniques and shellcode with several layers of tools designed to detect and defeat analysis. Microsoft officials said the exploit is being used in targeted attacks right now and attackers are employing it to drop a backdoor on vulnerable machines. The vulnerability, which Microsoft acknowledged yesterday in a security advisory, affects several versions of Word and Office, both on Windows and OS X, and is related to a problem in the handling of RTF files. Microsoft also acknowledged that there is a theoretical method through which an attacker could trigger the vulnerability in Outlook, but that method hasn't been seen in the wild yet. <more>