Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 CTreeNode Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Microsoft Internet Explorer. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the way Internet Explorer handles CTreeNode objects. By manipulating a document’s elements an attacker can force a dangling pointer to be reused after it has been freed. The issue lies in a possible type confusion between a CTreeNode object and an ISpanQualifier instance during the layout of a document being performed. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the current process.