TippingPoint Zero Day Initiative

Java Web Start tempbuff Stack Buffer Overflow

ZDI-08-009: March 12th, 2008

CVE ID

Affected Vendors

Affected Products

    Java Runtime

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Sun Java Web Start. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page.

The specific flaw exists in the useEncodingDecl() function used while checking xml based JNLP files for UTF8 characters. When a user downloads a malicious JNLP file, the data immediately preceding the opening of the xml tag is read into a static buffer. If an overly long key name in the xml header is included, a stack based buffer overflow occurs, resulting in an exploitable condition.

Vendor Response

Sun Microsystems has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:

Disclosure Timeline

    2007-09-14 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
    2008-03-12 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

This vulnerability was discovered by:
    Anonymous