A bug makes crash Windows 7 and 8 just by visiting a web page

A Russian researcher has found a way to crash Windows 7 and 8.1 using a new bug. Indeed just appoint a picture on a web site in a special way to slow down or block these older versions of Windows and force the computer to restart. 29where American site Ars Te chnica reports that a Russian researcher has found a way to crash Windows 7 and 8 just by naming an image hosted on a web site in a very special way. Indeed just insert an image tag with the name of file “c:$MFTabc” withi n this s ite The PC installed under these old versions of Windows will then begin to slow and then stop responding at all and finally require a restart to work properly again.

What is that the MFT?

Th e M FT or Master File Table is one of the main components of the Microsoft’s NTFS file system. Main element of an NTFS partition, it’s the first file on it (its correct name is “$MFT”), it contains a list of all the files stored on the drive. This list is stored in the form of a series of records, like a database. When a file is deleted, the record that describes is marked as free, then it can be reused when a new file is created, but it will never be released disc. Therefore, the MFT file continues to grow as the use of the disc. $MFT is a system file which is accessible to the user, or the majority of installed software. It is located at the root of all NTFS volumes. However, if we as if $MFT was a directory and try to access an imaginary file that would be, the system ends up in an infinite loop which he will emerge only after a reboot. The bug is triggered when we go this path of file by hand. It works also remotely, if it is inserted in a web page. Bleeping Computers has confirmed the bug through Internet Explorer and Firefox. Chrome, however, does not fool. Google browser sees that the path is not correct and blocking access.

Windows 10 and Chrome protected bug

The Verg e has tested the bug on one of its PC and found that it functioned well. There are also two ways to activate it. Either by directly entering a command such a s c:$MFTa bc in the navigation bar of Firefox or Internet Explorer, or visiting a web site that hosts an image that will appeal to the non-existent file in question. This bug affects Wi ndows 10 or Chrome, that will immediately block the page in question. As for the bug, it was reassembled at Microsoft, who took knowledge, but who gave no date of a possible correction.