Vulnerability Note VU#831457

RealNetworks RealPlayer ActiveX controls property heap memory corruption

Original Release date: 11 Mar 2008 | Last revised: 26 Jul 2008

Overview

Multiple RealPlayer ActiveX controls fail to properly handle properties, which can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Description

RealNetworks RealPlayer provides multiple ActiveX controls to allow integration with Internet Explorer. The ActiveX controls provided by the file rmoc3260.dll fail to properly handle multiple properties, including Console. Setting these properties can result in heap memory corruption.

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.

Solution

Apply an update

This issue is addressed in RealPlayer 11.0.3. Please see the RealPlayer security update for more details.


Disable the RealPlayer ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer

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

    {0FDF6D6B-D672-463B-846E-C6FF49109662}
    {224E833B-2CC6-42D9-AE39-90B6A38A4FA2}
    {2F542A2E-EDC9-4BF7-8CB1-87C9919F7F93}
    {3B46067C-FD87-49B6-8DDD-12F0D687035F}
    {3B5E0503-DE28-4BE8-919C-76E0E894A3C2}
    {44CCBCEB-BA7E-4C99-A078-9F683832D493}
    {A1A41E11-91DB-4461-95CD-0C02327FD934}
    {CFCDAA03-8BE4-11CF-B84B-0020AFBBCCFA}
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 these controls:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{0FDF6D6B-D672-463B-846E-C6FF49109662}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{224E833B-2CC6-42D9-AE39-90B6A38A4FA2}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{2F542A2E-EDC9-4BF7-8CB1-87C9919F7F93}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{3B46067C-FD87-49B6-8DDD-12F0D687035F}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{3B5E0503-DE28-4BE8-919C-76E0E894A3C2}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{44CCBCEB-BA7E-4C99-A078-9F683832D493}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{A1A41E11-91DB-4461-95CD-0C02327FD934}]
    "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{CFCDAA03-8BE4-11CF-B84B-0020AFBBCCFA}]
    "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
RealNetworks, Inc.Affected-26 Jul 2008
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 publicly disclosed by Elazar Broad.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

  • CVE IDs: CVE-2008-1309
  • Date Public: 10 Mar 2008
  • Date First Published: 11 Mar 2008
  • Date Last Updated: 26 Jul 2008
  • Severity Metric: 17.15
  • Document Revision: 14

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