Apple QuickTime sean Atom Size Parsing Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

August 22nd, 2012
ZDI-12-153 ZDI-CAN-1495

CVE ID

CVE-2012-0670

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. 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 Quicktime.qts when parsing the 'sean' atom. The size specified in the atom's header is added to 0x0C and subsequently allocated. File data is then copied into that buffer along with a series of nulls. If the buffer is undersized, the copy operation can be made to corrupt adjacent memory. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the process.

Additional Details

Apple has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5261

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2012-01-24 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2012-08-22 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

Tom Gallagher (Microsoft) & Paul Bates (Microsoft)

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