Vulnerability Note VU#419419

Yahoo! Messenger contains buffer overflow in "message" field

Overview

Yahoo! Messenger is an instant messaging client. There is a remotely exploitable buffer overflow vulnerability in the "message" field of Yahoo! Messenger.

I. Description

A remotely exploitable buffer overflow exists in the "message" field that may permit a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system with the privileges of the current user. It is possible to crash the Yahoo! Messenger client by overflowing the "message" field.

It should be noted that the attacker needs to use a custom client in order to exploit this vulnerability.

II. Impact

A denial of service situation is caused. However, this vulnerability is a buffer overflow, and may potentially allow the execution of arbitrary code on the local system with the privileges of the current user.

III. Solution

This vulnerability was resolved in version 5,0,0,1058.

The Yahoo! Messenger client communicates via port 5101 for peer to peer connections. Disabling the client, or blocking access to this port via a firewall may mitigate this attack.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Yahoo	Vulnerable	5-Jun-2002

References

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/4162
http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/8264.php
http://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/257584

Credit

This vulnerablity was discovered by Scott Woodward.

This document was written by Jason Rafail.

Other Information

Date Public:	2002-02-21
Date First Published:	2002-06-05
Date Last Updated:	2002-06-05
CERT Advisory:	CA-2002-16
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2002-0320
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2002-0320
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	17.72
Document Revision:	12

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