Software Engineering Institute

HP Mercury Interactive Quality Center includes an ActiveX control called Spider Module. It is provided by the file Spider.ocx or Spider90.ocx. This ActiveX control contains a stack buffer overflow in the ProgColor property.

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 the web browser to crash.

Apply a patch

Apply a patch, as specified in HP Security Bulletin c00901872.

Disable the HP Mercury Interactive Spider Module ActiveX control in Internet Explorer

The vulnerable ActiveX controls can be disabled in Internet Explorer by setting the kill bit for the following CLSIDs:

{CDBD9968-7BF1-11D4-9D36-0001029DEBEB}
{98C53984-8BF8-4D11-9B1C-C324FCA9CADE}
More information about how to set the kill bit is available in Microsoft Support Document 240797. Alternatively, the following text can be saved as a .REG file and imported to set the kill bit for these controls:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{CDBD9968-7BF1-11D4-9D36-0001029DEBEB}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{98C53984-8BF8-4D11-9B1C-C324FCA9CADE}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400
Disable ActiveX

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