Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 7.0 that might lend itself towards the creation of more convincing phishing attacks.

The cross-site scripting (XSS) bug creates a means to replace local page displaying a "Navigation to the webpage was canceled" message with a "Refresh the page" link. "This might be useful in a phishing attack, but it does sound rather complex and requires the user to jump through the hoops," the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Centre notes.

The flaw is perhaps more noteworthy for been among the first to affect IE 7 rather than the immediate threat it poses. Microsoft is investigating reports of the bug.

Meanwhile SANS has added the flaw to its list of unpatched Microsoft security vulnerabilities, as a secondary concern. The most pressing flaw remains a Word vulnerability that permits remote code execution, discovered in February. ®