Vulnerability Note VU#709220

Apple Safari fails to perform security checks on links in rich text content

Overview

Apple Safari fails to perform security checks on hyperlinks in rich text content, which may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on a vulnerable system.

I. Description

Mac OS X includes the Safari web browser, which can display rich text (RTF) files directly. When Safari opens a rich text file, it will display the contents of the file within the browser window, rather than spawning an external application to view it. Rich text files can contain hyperlinks that the user can click on to navigate to the referenced URI. Safari does not perform security checks on hyperlinks contained within rich text files.

II. Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to persuade a user to click on a rich text hyperlink within Safari, leading to remote command execution.

III. Solution

Apply an update

Please see Apple Security Update 2005-007 for details on workarounds, fixes, and updates.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Apple Computer, Inc.	Vulnerable	17-Aug-2005

References

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302163
http://secunia.com/advisories/16449/

Credit

Thanks to Apple Product Security for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

Date Public:	2005-08-15
Date First Published:	2005-08-17
Date Last Updated:	2005-08-17
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2005-2516
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2005-2516
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	11.57
Document Revision:	6

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.

Produced 2005 by US-CERT, a government organization
Disclaimers and copyright information

Get Adobe Reader