COMMAND

    mIRC

SYSTEMS AFFECTED

    Systems with mIRC

PROBLEM

    James  WorK  posted  following  about  another well-known irc "DoS
    attack"  that  has  been  ignored  by  client developers till now.
    The bug refers to  mIRC client (http://www.mirc.co.uk) but  it was
    reported to work on virc client as well (virc users confirm?):

        /nick com1
        /msg victim hey man!

        <victim> yes?

        victim replies to you and *wh00p*

        <victim> damn...my mouse locked!

        /nick com2
        /msg victim are you gonna answer me or ?

        few moments later...

        /msg victim are you there?
        error : victim is not on irc

    After a while...

        <victim_> hey! I'm back...I just got disconnected.

    Apparently if you /msg com1 or any other serial port (com2,  com3,
    com4) or parallel port (lpt1, lpt2) or logic port (aux)  etc...the
    message is sent directly to the port as well, which usually  leads
    to crash  of the  plugged device  (modem, mouse,  printer, etc..).
    Some people using particular phone devices (multiple lines  switch
    and  sorta)  had  to  reset  them because phoneline was completely
    messed up after the DoS.

SOLUTION

    A quick-fix is setting com1!*@* com2!*@* etc as complete ignore.