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Internet Explorer Zero-Day Treasure Hunt


Posted by Thomas Claburn, May 7, 2008 07:46 PM

Somewhere on Israeli security researcher Aviv Raff's Web site is proof-of-concept code for a zero-day exploit that affects Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.

Israel is celebrating its 60th anniversary as a country and Raff says that treasure hunts represent an Independence Day custom. So it is that Raff is hosting a hunt for hidden code on his site.

"Every day or two, I will add a new clue to this list, in a hope that by next Wednesday someone will eventually find the treasure," Raff says on his blog. "Next Wednesday, I will release the full technical details of this zero-day vulnerability and the proof-of-concept code."

The first person to post a comment that identifies the hidden code and provides details about how to use it wins the contest, explains Raff. The winner will get free admission to the IsraCON security conference later this summer.

So far, Raff has posted three clues: 1) IE7.0 and IE8.0b users will get pwned; 2) An interaction with the sploit is needed; 3) There's no need to find the post. It's everywhere.

Good luck.

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