iDefense Security Advisory 02.01.10 http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/ Feb 01, 2010 I. BACKGROUND RealPlayer is an application for playing various media formats, developed by RealNetworks Inc. Since late 2003, Real Player has been based on the open-source Helix Player. More information can be found at the URLs shown. For more information, see the vendor's site found at the following links. http://www.real.com/realplayer.html http://helixcommunity.org/ II. DESCRIPTION Remote exploitation of an integer overflow vulnerability in Real Networks Inc.'s RealPlayer version 11 could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code. iDefense Labs has confirmed the existence of an integer overflow issue within RealPlayer when handling compressed GIF files. The vulnerability occurs in the CGIFCodec::InitDecompress() function, which does not properly validate a field in the GIF file before using it in an arithmetic operation that calculates the size of a heap buffer. This issue leads to heap corruption, which can result in the execution of arbitrary code. III. ANALYSIS Exploitation of this issue allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code within the security context of the current user. An attacker would need to entice a victim into opening a RTSP stream. Upon the victim opening the stream, the attack would inject a malformed compressed GIF image into a RTSP stream to exploit this issue. Other attack vectors are likely to exist; however, this was the vector tested within iDefense Labs. It should be noted that RealPlayer can be instantiated within a Web browser. This means an attacker could host a malicious Web page and entice a victim into visiting this page. Upon visiting the page, exploitation would occur. IV. DETECTION iDefense confirmed RealPlayer version 11 is vulnerable to this issue. RealNetworks provided the following matrix of affected software: Windows RealPlayer 11.0.0 - 11.0.4 Mac RealPlayer 10 V. WORKAROUND iDefense recommends applying the following workarounds until a patch resolving this issue is made publicly available by Real Networks Inc. RealPlayer users should change the GIF filetype association to another application. It is also recommended that RealPlayer users disable the RealPlayer plugins contained within the Web browsers plugins directory by changing the file permissions to deny execution of these files. These workarounds will limit the functionality of RealPlayer by disabling GIF support and web browser plugin features. These workarounds may not mitigate all exploitation vectors but will likely prevent the majority of likely scenarios. VI. VENDOR RESPONSE RealNetworks has released a patch which addresses this issue. Information about downloadable vendor updates can be found by clicking on the URLs shown. http://service.real.com/realplayer/security/01192010_player/en/ VII. CVE INFORMATION The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the name CVE-2009-4245 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for security problems. VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE 05/13/2008 Initial Contact 05/03/2008 Initial Response 02/01/2010 Coordinated public disclosure. IX. CREDIT The discoverer of this vulnerability wishes to remain anonymous. Get paid for vulnerability research http://labs.idefense.com/methodology/vulnerability/vcp.php Free tools, research and upcoming events http://labs.idefense.com/ X. LEGAL NOTICES Copyright © 2010 iDefense, Inc. Permission is granted for the redistribution of this alert electronically. It may not be edited in any way without the express written consent of iDefense. If you wish to reprint the whole or any part of this alert in any other medium other than electronically, please e-mail customerservice@xxxxxxxxxxxx for permission. Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, this information.
