CVE-2007-3033

Vulnerability

The Windows Vista Feed Headlines Gadget (Sidebar RSS Feeds Gadget) contains a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability due to improper sanitization of HTML attributes in RSS feed content. This allows malicious RSS feeds to inject script code that executes in the Local Machine zone. Affected versions include all supported editions of Windows Vista prior to the MS07-048 security update [1].

Exploitation

An attacker must convince a user to subscribe to a malicious RSS feed using the Feed Headlines Gadget. No authentication is required; the attack relies on user interaction (subscribing to the feed). The crafted feed includes HTML attributes that are not properly filtered, causing the gadget to render the malicious script in the local zone [3].

Impact

Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the logged-on user. An attacker could gain complete control of the system, including installing programs, viewing/changing data, or creating new accounts with full user rights. Users with fewer user rights are less impacted than administrative users [1][3].

Mitigation

Microsoft released security update MS07-048 on August 14, 2007, which addresses this vulnerability by improving validation code within the Feed Headlines Gadget [1]. Until the update is applied, users can disable the Feed Headlines Gadget as a workaround [3]. No known workarounds for unpatched systems are available aside from disabling the gadget.