Vulnerability Note VU#243681

OpenOffice.org may fail to properly contain certain Java applets

Overview

The OpenOffice.org team has reported a vulnerability in how the 1.1 and 2.0 versions of OpenOffice.org handle certain Java applets.

I. Description

OpenOffice.org is an office suite that is available for multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Apple Mac OS X, and BSD. It includes components such as a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tool. It features the ability for documents to contain Java applets in addition to static data content.

The OpenOffice.org team has stated that there is a vulnerability in the 1.1 and 2.0 versions of OpenOffice.org that may allow some Java applets full access to the host operating system with the privileges of the user running OpenOffice.org.

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a user to open a document with a specially crafted Java applet. If successful, the attacker could use the java applet to access the operating system with the privileges of the user who opened the document.

II. Impact

A malicious Java applet could change, delete, transmit, overwrite, and read data on the affected computer. It may also be possible for an attacker to remotely execute arbitrary code.

III. Solution

Upgrade

See the Systems Affected section of this document for information about specific vendors. Users who compile OpenOffice.org from source or get their binaries directly from OpenOffice.org are encouraged to upgrade to version 1.1.5 or 2.0.3.

Workarounds

Disable Java Applets
Disabling Java applets in OpenOffice documents will remove exposure to this vulnerability. The security advisory Sun Alert 102475 provides instructions on how to disable Java applets.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified
Debian GNU/Linux	Vulnerable	12-Jul-2006
Mandriva, Inc.	Vulnerable	12-Jul-2006
OpenOffice.org	Vulnerable	20-Jul-2006
Red Hat, Inc.	Vulnerable	12-Jul-2006
Sun Microsystems, Inc.	Vulnerable	14-Jul-2006
SUSE Linux	Vulnerable	12-Jul-2006

References

http://www.openoffice.org/security/CVE-2006-2199.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/20893/
http://secunia.com/advisories/20867/
http://secunia.com/advisories/20913/
http://secunia.com/advisories/20910/
http://secunia.com/advisories/20975/
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2006-0573.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1104
http://www.novell.com/linux/security/advisories/2006_40_openoffice.html
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2006:075
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-102475-1
http://www.auscert.org.au/6473
http://www.openoffice.org/security/CVE-2006-2199.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/18737

Credit

This document was written by Ryan Giobbi.

Other Information

Date Public:	2006-06-29
Date First Published:	2006-07-20
Date Last Updated:	2007-01-31
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2006-2199
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2006-2199
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	0.06
Document Revision:	31

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Produced 2006 by US-CERT, a government organization
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