Malware may hide behind long names in Windows registry
According to a security advisory by Denmark-based IT security company Secunia, the weakness is caused by an error in the Windows Registry Editor Utility’s handling of long string names. A malicious program could hide itself in a registry key by creating a string with a long name, which would allow the malicious string and any created after it in the same key to remain hidden, according to Secunia. Keys are stored in the Windows Registry, which saves a PC’s configuration settings. Secunia has confirmed that the vulnerability affects the “Run” registry key, according to the advisory. Malicious strings in this key will be executed when a user logs on to the PC. The vulnerability affects Windows XP and Windows 2000 and has been confirmed to exist on fully updated XP systems with Service Pack 2 and Windows 2000 systems with Service Pack 4, according to Secunia.
