Apple QuickTime GIF LZW Decompression Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

November 10th, 2010

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Apple QuickTime. User interaction is required in that a target must open a malicious media file or visit a malicious page.

The specific flaw exists within the application's implementation of the LZW compression when opening a certain file format. The application will allocate a buffer for the image and then decompress image data into it. Due to explicitly trusting the decompressed data, a buffer overflow will occur. This can lead to memory corruption and code execution under the context of the application.

Additional Details

Fixed in
Mac OS X 10.6.5: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4435
QuickTime 7.6.9: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4447


Disclosure Timeline

  • 2010-06-30 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2010-11-10 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

Anonymous

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