Software Engineering Institute

Shockwave Player

Adobe Macromedia Shockwave Player is software that plays active web content developed in Macromedia Director. Shockwave Player is available as an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer and as a plug-in for other web browsers.

Shockwave Installer

Internet Explorer users can install the Shockwave Player through use of an ActiveX installer. Upon visiting a web site that provides Shockwave content, the user will be prompted to install the Shockwave Player through the ActiveX mechanism. Users of web browsers other than Internet Explorer, which do not support ActiveX, are required to run a stand-alone Shockwave Player installer to view Shockwave content.

The problem

The ActiveX installer for Shockwave contains a buffer overflow vulnerability.

By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML document (for example, a web page) and to accept the Shockwave Player ActiveX installer prompt, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user.

Do not install ActiveX controls from untrusted web sites

Although the Shockwave installer that is currently available from the macromedia.com web site does not contain the vulnerability, an attacker may choose to host the vulnerable version of the ActiveX installer. This ActiveX control may appear as valid and signed by Macromedia, Inc. Do not install ActiveX controls from untrusted web sites.

Disable ActiveX

Disabling ActiveX controls in the Internet Zone (or any zone used by an attacker) appears to prevent exploitation of this vulnerability. Instructions for disabling ActiveX in the Internet Zone can be found in the "Securing Your Web Browser" document and the Malicious Web Scripts FAQ.

Note that disabling ActiveX controls in the Internet Zone will reduce the functionality of some web sites.