Software Engineering Institute

The Microsoft DirectAnimation Path object is an ActiveX control that is used to move objects around the page. This ActiveX control fails to validate input to several of its methods, which can cause Internet Explorer or another host application to crash in an exploitable manner.

By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML document (e.g., a web page or an HTML email message or attachment), an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user. The attacker could also cause Internet Explorer (or the program using the WebBrowser control) to crash.

Update

Microsoft has released an update to address this issue. See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-067 for more details.

Disable the DirectAnimation Path ActiveX control

The DirectAnimation Path control can be disabled by setting the kill bit for the following CLSID:

{D7A7D7C3-D47F-11d0-89D3-00A0C90833E6}
More information about how to set the kill bit is available in Microsoft Support Document 240797.

Disable ActiveX

Disabling ActiveX controls in the Internet Zone (or any zone used by an attacker) appears to prevent exploitation of this vulnerability. Instructions for disabling ActiveX in the Internet Zone can be found in the "Securing Your Web Browser" document and the Malicious Web Scripts FAQ.