Vulnerability Note VU#118737

Second Sight Software ActiveGS ActiveX control stack buffer overflows

Original Release date: 18 Apr 2007 | Last revised: 22 Apr 2010

Overview

The Second Sight Software ActiveGS ActiveX control contains several stack buffer overflows, which can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Description

Second Sight Software ActiveGS is an Apple IIGS emulator that is provided as an ActiveX control. The control, which is provided by ActiveGS.ocx, contains multiple stack buffer overflow vulnerabilities.

Impact

By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML document (e.g., a web page or an HTML email message or attachment), an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user. The attacker could also cause the web browser to crash.

Solution

Apply an update

This issue is addressed in ActiveGS 3.x and higher.


Disable the ActiveGS ActiveX control in Internet Explorer

The vulnerable ActiveX control can be disabled in Internet Explorer by setting the kill bit for the following CLSID:

    {052DF14F-6F28-44A0-9130-294FDA6176EB}
More information about how to set the kill bit is available in Microsoft Support Document 240797. Alternatively, the following text can be saved as a .REG file and imported to set the kill bit for this control:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{052DF14F-6F28-44A0-9130-294FDA6176EB}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400
Disable ActiveX

Disabling ActiveX controls in the Internet Zone (or any zone used by an attacker) appears to prevent exploitation of this and other ActiveX vulnerabilities. Instructions for disabling ActiveX in the Internet Zone can be found in the "Securing Your Web Browser" document. 

Systems Affected (Learn More)

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
Second Sight SoftwareAffected26 Feb 200722 Apr 2010
If you are a vendor and your product is affected, let us know.

CVSS Metrics (Learn More)

Group Score Vector
Base N/A N/A
Temporal N/A N/A
Environmental N/A N/A

References

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by Will Dormann of CERT/CC.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

  • CVE IDs: CVE-2007-1690
  • Date Public: 18 Apr 2007
  • Date First Published: 18 Apr 2007
  • Date Last Updated: 22 Apr 2010
  • Severity Metric: 0.74
  • Document Revision: 14

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