Summary : Stack overflow in MPA, AVI and ASF demuxer
Date : September 2009
Affected versions : VLC media player 1.0.1 down to 0.5.0
ID : VideoLAN-SA-0901
CVE reference : Pending
Details
When parsing a MP4, ASF or AVI file with an overly deep box structure,
a stack overflow might occur. It would overwrite the return address and
thus redirect the execution flow.
Impact
If successful,
a malicious third party could trigger execution of arbitrary code
within the context of the VLC media player.
Threat mitigation
Exploitation of this issue requires the user
to explicitly open a specially crafted file.
Workarounds
The user should refrain from opening files from untrusted third parties
or accessing untrusted remote sites (or disable the VLC browser plugins),
until the patch is applied.
Alternatively, the MP4, AVI and ASF demuxer plugins
(libmp4_plugin.*, libavi_plugin.*, libasf_plugin.*)
can be removed manually from the VLC plugin installation directory.
Solution
VLC media player 1.0.2 addresses this issue.
Patches for older versions are available
from the official VLC source code repository 1.0-bugfix branch.
Credits
This vulnerability was reported by Sebastian Apelt, siberas.
