Bug in Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 can result in DDoS attacks

Bug in Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 can result in DDoS attacks

A newly discovered flaw in the Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 can be used by hackers to launch a DDoS attack on certain applications.

However, Microsoft has said that the flaw is not very serious and users have no reasons to worry about.

The flaw in these applications can be exploited through a buffer overflow attack, security vendor Secunia reported Thursday. When this happens, the victim can be lured into visiting a malicious website with an overly long URL.

Secunia itself has rated this flaw as ‘less critical’ which is the second worst rating given to a security flaw by them.

Hackers can use this flaw to crash applications but they would not be able to run malicious code on the victim’s machine. Microsoft confirmed that the flaw exists in Home and Professional editions of Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, and four versions of Windows Server 2003: Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web edition.