ZDI-10-282: RealNetworks RealPlayer RealPix Server Header Parsing Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-10-282

December 10, 2010

-- CVE ID:
CVE-2010-4394

-- CVSS:
9, (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:C)

-- Affected Vendors:
RealNetworks

-- Affected Products:
RealNetworks RealPlayer

-- TippingPoint(TM) IPS Customer Protection:
TippingPoint IPS customers have been protected against this
vulnerability by Digital Vaccine protection filter ID 10717.
For further product information on the TippingPoint IPS, visit:

    http://www.tippingpoint.com

-- Vulnerability Details:
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on
vulnerable installations of RealNetworks RealPlayer. 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 RealPlayer's parsing of RealPix files.
If such a file contains an image tag pointing to a remote server, the
player will attempt to fetch the remote file. When parsing the response
from the web server, the process blindly copies the contents of the
Server header into a fixed length heap buffer. If an attacker provides a
large enough string, critical pointers can be overwritten allowing for
arbitrary code execution under the context of the user running the
player.

-- Vendor Response:
RealNetworks has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More
details can be found at:

http://service.real.com/realplayer/security/12102010_player/en/

-- Disclosure Timeline:
2010-09-24 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
2010-12-10 - Coordinated public release of advisory

-- Credit:
This vulnerability was discovered by:
    * AbdulAziz Hariri

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