Apple macOS M4A Parsing Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

March 28th, 2017
ZDI-17-189 ZDI-CAN-4413

CVE ID

CVE-2017-2462

CVSS Score

6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Affected Vendors

Apple

Affected Products

macOS

Vulnerability Details


This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Apple OS X. 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 the handling of M4A files. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to achieve remote code execution under the context of the current user.

Additional Details

Apple has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2017-01-20 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2017-03-28 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

734388278a34721ed1869ab23235b2c976a145e2

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