Severity: High
22 October, 2007
Summary:
Late Friday, RealNetworks released a patch for a critical vulnerability affecting RealPlayer 10.5 and RealPlayer 11 beta running on Windows. By enticing one of your users to a malicious Web site, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to execute code on your user’s computer, with your user’s privileges. In the worst case scenario, the attacker could gain total control of the victim’s PC. If you allow the use of RealPlayer in your network, have your users upgrade immediately.
Exposure:
RealPlayer and RealOne Player are widely-used software for Internet media delivery. RealOne Player plays virtually every major Internet media format, including Windows Media, Quicktime, MPEG-4, and even DVDs. If you’ve watched streaming videos on the Internet, or listened to music samples while buying CDs online, you’ve probably encountered RealPlayer.
WatchGuard does not recommend using RealPlayer or RealOne Player, partly because both contain automatic communication features which, by default, let RealNetworks and RealNetwork’s “partners” (such as NASCAR and CNN) install software on your client computers. But in reality, many of your users have probably installed one of these products, with or without your permission.
Severity: High
22 October, 2007
Summary:
Late Friday, RealNetworks released a patch for a critical vulnerability affecting RealPlayer 10.5 and RealPlayer 11 beta running on Windows. By enticing one of your users to a malicious Web site, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to execute code on your user’s computer, with your user’s privileges. In the worst case scenario, the attacker could gain total control of the victim’s PC. If you allow the use of RealPlayer in your network, have your users upgrade immediately.
Exposure:
RealPlayer and RealOne Player are widely-used software for Internet media delivery. RealOne Player plays virtually every major Internet media format, including Windows Media, Quicktime, MPEG-4, and even DVDs. If you’ve watched streaming videos on the Internet, or listened to music samples while buying CDs online, you’ve probably encountered RealPlayer.
WatchGuard does not recommend using RealPlayer or RealOne Player, partly because both contain automatic communication features which, by default, let RealNetworks and RealNetwork’s “partners” (such as NASCAR and CNN) install software on your client computers. But in reality, many of your users have probably installed one of these products, with or without your permission.
In a security update released late Friday, RealNetworks warned of a new vulnerability that affects RealPlayer 10.5 and 11 beta running on Windows. (OS X and Linux users are not affected.) The flaw, discovered in the wild by Symantec, involves a buffer overflow vulnerability in one of RealPlayer’s ActiveX controls (specifically, ierpplug.dll). By enticing one of your users to a malicious Web site, an attacker can pass an over-long parameter to the vulnerable ActiveX control, which triggers the buffer overflow flaw. The attacker can then exploit the flaw to execute code on your user’s computer, inheriting your user’s privileges. Windows administrators often give users local administrator rights. If the exploit is successful in that context, the attacker would gain complete control of your user’s machine.
Symantec found attackers exploiting this vulnerability in the wild. In other words, the bad guys found the flaw first and are actively using it to break into computers. If you use RealPlayer in your network, this vulnerability poses a critical risk. You should apply RealNetwork’s update immediately.
Solution Path:
RealNetworks has released a patch to correct this vulnerability. Clients who use RealPlayer 10.5 or 11 beta in Windows should upgrade immediately, or remove the software entirely. You can download RealNetwork’s patch here.
For All WatchGuard Users:
The vulnerability described in our alert uses normal HTTP traffic, which you must allow for your users to browse the Web. If you use RealPlayer in your network, you should download RealNetwork’s update as soon as possible.
Status:
RealNetworks has issued a Security Update that fixes the problem.