The bug, according to security alerts by a bug hunter and a Danish security company, Secunia, could let hackers use a technique to display a false Web address on a fake site.

Secunia credited the bug to "Zap the Dingbat," who posted an alert to the Bugtraq security mailing list. That alert links to a demonstration of the exploit, and says Microsoft was informed of the bug Tuesday.

Malicious hackers frequently lure victims to convincing replicas of e-commerce sites such as eBay, where they're tricked into handing over financial and other private information. The method is said to be a key tool in credit card and identity theft.

Savvy Web surfers often figure out the ruse from irregularities in the Web address. But in the method described by Secunia, IE could allow the address bar for the spoofed eBay site, for example, to read "ebay.com."

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