http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/22/ie_exploit/
Hackers have created a potent exploit for a six-month old vulnerability in Internet Explorer which was previously believed to be only a Denial of Service risk. A fresh exploit posted on computerterrorism.com proves that the security bug can be exploited to gain system access, even on systems running Windows XP with Service Pack 2. The flaw stems from a failure by IE to properly handle requests to the window() object.

Successful exploitation involves tricking a Windows user running IE into visiting a maliciously constructed website contain hostile JavaScript code. Users of both IE 5.5 and 6.x are potentially at risk. "Currently, the only way to protect against exploitation of this vulnerability is by disabling active scripting or by using another browser," said Thomas Kristensen, CTO of security notification firm Secunia.

Microsoft's holding statement on the issue can be found here.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...ry/911302.mspx
This issue was originally publicly reported in May as being a stability issue that caused the browser to close. Since then, new information has been posted that indicates remote code execution could be possible. Microsoft is concerned that this new report of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer was not disclosed responsibly, potentially putting computer users at risk. We continue to encourage responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities. We believe the commonly accepted practice of reporting vulnerabilities directly to a vendor serves everyone's best interests. This practice helps to ensure that customers receive comprehensive, high-quality updates for security vulnerabilities without exposure to malicious attackers while the update is being developed.
Yeah.. it's all the evil hackers fault .. it's known for atleast 5 months and still unpatched