View Full Version : simple HTML crashes Internet Explorer

whirlpool
hello guys,

If you do not check Slashdot.org regularly, you might have missed this. A very simple 5* lines of HTML code can make Internet Explorer from ver 4 upto 6 crash instantly!

The original story here:
http://slashdot.org/articles/03/05/02/1845241.shtml?tid=126&tid=95&tid=128&tid=113

Test your browser here:
http://vibrantlogic.com/new.html

<html>
<form>
<input type crash>
</form>
</html>

Mozilla, Opera, dillo or any other webbrowser does not crash from this simple HTML. Outlook, frontpage or any application that depends on IE rendering engines crashes too.

The code should NOT be inside '<body>' tags. Thus this will not work in webforums and webbased email. Still you can have fun with outlook with a simple email containing this code. Windows explorer, the one they use to browse their local file system crashes upon highlighting a file containing such code.

Have fun, enjoy !
:cool:

I will have to go now, email all my contact list those 5 lines of art :)

------
Some guys discovered that only a <input type YourNameHere> would have the same effects.
joe_lite
oh yes i tested this yesterday ,itis a goog note but i donot know why it is implemented? any suggestions...?
uniball
hehehe
Oh my!
i saw this a few days on /. i thought about trying it with phoenix, but sure i'll mail this code to all my friends ;)
!!
SYStems
I read the slashdot post/article/thing

and one of the posts had an explanation from
bugtraq

it's that line


<input type crash>


that causes the problem

it have something to do, with the tag not being closed, which makes IE somehow follow a null pointer.

I dont understand thought if the page must
have that exact html
<html>
<form>
<input type crash>
</form>
</html>

No body tags, no head tags !!!!


or will that line crash ie in a more full html page !!!