Microsoft Help and Support Center 0-day Vulnerability
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A zero-day remote code execution vulnerability has been discovered in the Windows Help and Support Center and a proof of concept code is available. A remote attacker may exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on an affected system.
The Help and Support Center (HSC) is a Windows feature that provides help on a variety of topics including other Windows features. Users and programs can execute URL links to HSC by using the "hcp://" prefix in a URL link instead of "http://". The vulnerability is due to an error in HSC that fails to properly validate URLs when using the HCP Protocol. Affected versions include Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Windows Vista, Server 2008, and Windows 7 are not affected. A remote attacker could exploit this issue by convincing a user to open a maliciously crafted HTML file with Internet Explorer, which may allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.
The Check Point IPS Software Blade, IPS-1, VPN-1 NGX R65, and VSX NGX R65 and R67 provide immediate protection by detecting and blocking attempts to exploit this vulnerability. For more information, see CPAI-2010-208.