Windows 10: a bug corrupts data on the hard drive, a fix is coming
A nasty bug exists on Windows 10: hard drive data can get corrupted … just by looking at an icon. Security researcher Jonas Lyk has discovered this issue and Microsoft confirms that a fix is coming.
Malicious people can hide a line (c: : $ i30: $ bitmap) in a ZIP file, folder, or even a simple Windows shortcut. All a Windows 10 user needs to do is extract the ZIP file or just look at a folder that contains a malicious shortcut. This will automatically trigger hard drive corruption.
NTFS VULNERABILITY CRITICALITY UNDERESTIMATED
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There is a specially nasty vulnerability in NTFS right now.
Triggerable by opening special crafted name in any folder anywhere. ‘
The vulnerability will instant pop up complaining about yuor harddrive is corrupted when path is opened pic.twitter.com/E0YqHQ369N– Jonas L (@jonasLyk) January 9, 2021
Windows 10 will display an error and tell the user that their hard drive has a problem. He must then restart his PC for maintenance to be done and the disk to be repaired. According to the first feedback, this concerns disks which are in NTFS.
Fortunately, Microsoft is aware of this bug which can corrupt data on the hard drive and is preparing a fix. The group told The Verge :
We are aware of this issue and will be offering an update in a future release. Using this technique is based on social engineering, and as always we encourage our customers to practice good online computing habits, including being careful when opening unknown files or accepting file transfers.
