Vulnerability Note VU#932217

Yahoo! Webcam view utilities ActiveX control vulnerable to arbitrary code execution

Original Release date: 08 Jun 2007 | Last revised: 11 Jun 2007

Overview

The Yahoo! Webcam view utilities ActiveX control contains a stack buffer overflow, which can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Description

Yahoo! Webcam is a component of Yahoo! Messenger that allows users to chat via webcams over a network. Yahoo! Webcam Viewer includes an ActiveX control provided by the file ywcvwr.dll . This ActiveX control contains a stack buffer overflow vulnerability in the Server property.

We are aware of publicly available exploit code for this vulnerability.

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.

Solution

Apply an update
This issue is addressed in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1. If you are unable to upgrade, please consider the following workarounds:


Disable the Yahoo! Messenger ActiveX control in Internet Explorer

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

    (9D39223E-AE8E-11D4-8FD3-00D0B7730277)
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\{9D39223E-AE8E-11D4-8FD3-00D0B7730277}]
    "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
Yahoo, Inc.Affected-08 Jun 2007
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 issue was reported by eEye Digital Security in EEYEZD-20070606.

This document was written by Chris Taschner.

Other Information

  • CVE IDs: Unknown
  • Date Public: 07 Jun 2007
  • Date First Published: 08 Jun 2007
  • Date Last Updated: 11 Jun 2007
  • Severity Metric: 15.53
  • Document Revision: 13

Feedback

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