Software Engineering Institute

From Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-048:

Gadgets are mini-applications designed to provide the user with information or utilities. Windows Vista treats gadgets similar to the way Windows Vista treats other executable code. Gadgets are written using HTML and script, but this HTML is not located on an arbitrary remote server as web pages are. HTML content in the Gadget is downloaded first as part of a package of resources and configuration files and then executed from the local computer. This download process is similar to applications (.exe files) downloaded from the Internet.

The Windows Vista Feed headlines gadget contains a vulnerability that occurs because the gadget does not properly parse HTML attributes. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a user to subscribe to a malicious RSS feed using the Vista Feed headlines gadget.

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code, or create a denial-of-service condition.

Update
Microsoft has released update MS07-048 to address this issue.

Disable the Feed headlines gadget

Until updates can be applied, disabling the Feed headlines gadget will mitigate this vulnerability. To disable the Feed headlines gadget, see the workarounds section of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-048.