Apple QuickTime Atom Hierarachy Argument Size Mismatch Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

October 27th, 2011
ZDI-11-312 ZDI-CAN-1220

CVE ID

CVE-2011-3221

CVSS Score

7.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Affected Vendors

Apple

Affected Products

Quicktime

Vulnerability Details


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

The specific flaw exists within how the application parses the atom hierarchy within a QuickTime movie file. In a certain situation the application will pass execution to another function for handling the atom, however, will pass the incorrect number of arguments. Due to this, a variable will be treated as a pointer. This can lead to code execution under the context of the application.

Additional Details

Apple has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5002

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2011-06-03 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2011-10-27 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

Anonymous

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