I have made many attempts to crash AIM Beta 4.8.2646, the previous Beta was (i have been told) still vulnurable to a modified Buddy Kill attack (one of a smaller size, that gets around server-side blocks) but the new version seems impervious to this attack. Though you can still annoy a user by sending a font resource error, that will pop up an annoying window saying that they "have run out of font resources for this window..." and pause the IM/Chat window until you 'OK' out of it. I have tried to crash 4.8 with clones that all send font resource errors at the same time, 24 clones, in unison sending the attack, with 19 IM's actuly getting to the target. Though annoying this did not crash 4.8, also when used in a chat, it did not crash 4.8. 24 Clones doing an Invite bomb and sending IM's full of < ! --'s > also did not crash 4.8.
It is my belief that in this day and age it is extremely hard to find new exploits in old options. I think that the best way to find a new kill, exploit, or bug, is too look in the new features. But, alas I don't have a cellular phone I can use AIM with so I can not experiment with these new options. If someone does have one, I would suggest trying to send a comment crash ( '< !--' > ), because it is possible that AOL routes these messages through a diffrent server that does not block them.
It is also apparent that AOL does not particularly care about its users, unless they are paying a monthly fee. This becomes apparent when you look at the new beta, you can STILL use a font resource errors to annoy someone, I dont know how hard it would be for AOL to fix this problem in there clients, but I would bet money they are just to lazy to do it, because it causes no lasting harm, and therefor does not affect there revenue.
I am confident that I, or someone else, will find an exploit for AIM soon enough, and you can bet it will be posted here.
-Nemisis