Vulnerability Note VU#847993

Macrovision FLEXnet Connect / InstallShield Update Service Agent ActiveX buffer overflow

Overview

The Macrovision / InstallShield Update Service Web Agent ActiveX control contains a buffer overflow, which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

I. Description

The InstallShield Update Service, now known as Macrovision FLEXnet Connect, contains an ActiveX control called Update Service Agent. This ActiveX control is a component that is included with some Macrovision and InstallShield Windows software installers and is provided by the file isusweb.dll. The Update Service Agent ActiveX control contains a buffer overflow vulnerability in the Download() method.

II. 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 Internet Explorer (or the program using the WebBrowser control) to crash.

III. Solution

We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem.

Disable the Update Service Agent ActiveX control in Internet Explorer

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

{E9880553-B8A7-4960-A668-95C68BED571E}

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\{E9880553-B8A7-4960-A668-95C68BED571E}]

"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

Vendor	Status	Date Updated
Macrovision-InstallShield	Vulnerable	12-Feb-2007

References

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/securing_browser/#Internet_Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/240797
http://secunia.com/advisories/24270/

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by Dan Plakosh of the Software Engineering Institute.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

Date Public	02/22/2007
Date First Published	02/22/2007 11:31:40 AM
Date Last Updated	12/31/2007
CERT Advisory
CVE-ID(s)	CVE-2007-0321
NVD-ID(s)	CVE-2007-0321
US-CERT Technical Alerts
Metric	2.75
Document Revision	25

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Produced 2007 by US-CERT, a government organization
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