A security hole in Microsoft's Excel XP spreadsheet application could allow hackers to take over a user's PC by using specially formed XML stylesheets.
According to security expert Georgi Guninski, the problem occurs when a user opens an Excel spreadsheet file and chooses to view it with an XML stylesheet. If the stylesheet contains specially formed code, said Guninski in a security note on his Web site, the PC will try to run that code.
"As script kiddies know, this may lead to taking full control over a user's computer," said Guninski. "Excel does not give any warning to the user--just asks whether to use the style sheet or not." However, Guninski added, by default Excel does not display spreadsheet files with the stylesheet.
XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is a system for defining specialized markup languages that are used to transmit formatted data.
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