RSSNew QuickTime exploit triggers the same old stack overflow
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published November 26, 2007, 4:18 PM
It would appear a January fix that supposedly protects against malformed URLs to the RTSC protocol of Apple's QuickTime wasn't a complete fix after all.
The US-CERT office of the Dept. of Homeland Security confirmed this morning that an intentionally malformed header sent to the Real Time Streaming Protocol handler of Apple's QuickTime for Windows, and presumably for Mac OS as well, will cause a familiar stack buffer overflow problem that could be exploitable from the outside.
A similar problem was addressed by Apple last January, when a patch was issued to guard against intentionally malformed URLs sent through RTSP protocol to QuickTime. But now the problem appears to involve overflowing the message header - not the URL to which the message is directed - with garbage characters at the end.
Publicly available exploit code revealed by US-CERT appears to indicate that when the tail end of an otherwise properly parsed RTSP message is padded with garbage characters rather than with an empty line (as indicated by the IETF's description of RTSP), a stack overflow condition is triggered.
It's a different attack vector, but the same one triggered by the URL overflow discovered last January by security researcher Lance M. Havok. That month, Havok simultaneously released bulletins on 31 Mac OS and QuickTime-related exploits, in what he called "The Month of Apple Bugs."
US-CERT has not mentioned that it's been made aware of any public instances of a version of this exploit in the wild.
Dumping Quicktime permanently is the solution.
http://secunia.com/product/5090/?task=statistics
It's a media player. It plays files that basically should be simple formats. This isn't rocket science folks. If your media application can't handle basic media formats, you need to stop using it.
I dumped Quicktime, QT lite/alternative/whatever and haven't looked back.
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|So Apple's fix to the stack over flow was to
just truncate the data sent to the stack from
that one source and ignore the actual problem
which is a stack that can overflow.
Jeeze, that's the kind of thing _I_ would do.
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|I stopped using Apple QuickTime libraries. They have a lot of security flaws!
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|If you are that worried about security flaws, why are you on the internet? Why do you use a computer?
Funniest thing is, i bet you are using a M$ Windows based computer. You see things like this pretty much every day...
http://www.theregister.c.../wpad_vuln_investigated/
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|Why not use Windows pitdingo it is the leader in case you missed that. What is the market penetration of your loved Mac something like 3% of the market. I'll stick with Windows Vista thank you.
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|Heh...
Windows is clearly better. It's sales prove it. Unlike Macs, who's sales pale in comparison.
We all know sales=quality, otherwise pitdingo wouldn't be able to slam the Zune (having never actually used one).
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|I slam the Zune simply because it is horrible. The hardware design is worse than the ipod and the software is nothing next to iTunes.
here is a good read...
http://www.roughlydrafte...s-zune-is-still-failing/
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|Both the ipod and Itunes blow what are you talking about.
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|You wouldn't know, of course, as you've never so much as glanced at one, much less used one.
Listening to your opinions on this product is like listening to a Polar bear b**** about the weather in Tahiti.
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|Sales = Quality?
Not much of a history student, eh?
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|It's a media player. It's not like a browser that deals with 40 different LANGUAGES let alone boundary bugs. It plays simple, static files with known elements. I'd expect maybe 1-2 vulns a year? Max of three, like Windows Media seems to be getting? How about Media player classic? not too many. Apple is getting 15+ a year, it's patch mechanism frequently requires an uninstall, install, reboot, taking a good 10 minutes on modern machines. Yikes. Sad.
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|WOOOOSH!
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|Ok, normally I wouldn't comment on a singular security flaw (unless it's a blindingly obvious one) in a program.
This time I am:
A. It's the second or third time it's going to be patched
B. Apple's stance on this sort of thing
I would, without shadow of a doubt, purchase a Macintosh computer if it weren't for the sheer arrogance of the company and it's 'followers'.
Every software has bugs and security holes but taking a cheap shot at a rival company with adverts suggesting your have better software that is more secure when
A. they own a sizeable chunk of you, and
B. if they hadn't supplied you with the support they did at the start you wouldn't be anywhere near what you are today
is unacceptable.
Something has to change. Either they do produce flawless products, or they stop being so arrogant.
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|A. M$ does not own a sizable chunk of Apple. Please provide a reference...
B. Whether M$ support of Apple way back when kept Apple alive is debatable. I tend to lean more towards the return of Steve Jobs in 1997 as being what kept Apple alive.
Who says Apple makes flawless products? I think you are confused.
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|http://www.pcworld.com/a...156-page,1/article.html
how much was what back then for percentages? I'm sure at that time, that's a sizable chunk, since they would have been nonexistant without MS...or maybe like the commodore 64 some people still use.
heehee
btw, Apple keeps saying it's flawless..."it just works" and "does not get viruses". You can try to rework that anyway you like...have fun
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|$150 million really is not all that much money dude. Apple survived due to one reason: Steve Jobs.
Have fun making up things. Apples do "just work". Show me where Apple says they do not get viruses? Have fun finding that one... lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRAUlK8_2VE
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|Circa 1997:Microsoft, the world's largest software company, is buying $150 million in Apple company stock.
This means Microsoft will be an Apple shareholder and will make money on this stock if Apple prospers and will lose money if Apple takes a dive. But Microsoft won't have the right to vote at Apple's annual meeting and won't get any official say in how Apple is run.
Apple and Microsoft will share each other's ideas on how to make software. They'll use the same code for the wildly successful Java programming language -- a big plus for anyone who wants to make sure Java code will work on the World Wide Web.
That last bit about Java is especially amusing...
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|Apples do "just work".
Kindly allow me to direct your attention to:
http://www.appledefects.com/
For the most part they do "just work". But for many, they "just don't". Funny that. Apparently there is no such thing as a PC-based product that "just works" for everyone.
{Edit:} ...and you can say $150mil wasn't hat much, but according to many of the websites from the era and much of the commonly held beliefs now, Apple could very well have bitten the dust had Microsoft not agreed to help them out.
Not saying it was a good idea for ol' Jobsy, but...
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|I really don't think Steve and Bill are on that uneasy of terms. Hell, they probably still conference call on a weekly basis.
The marketing is just that. I'd not be quick to assume either company is taking it personally.
They are good ads. Even to those who know better, if they at least have a sense of humor, they are entertaining.
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|I wouldn't expect Pit to undetand...1997 is WAY before his time...he was only allowed to get on the internet sometime this year.
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|The last few haven't been as funny... I'm on the fence... a few more funny ads and I'll buy an iMac. They already got me on the iPod Touch - the most fun gadget I've owned in a while.
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|lmao...
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|I dunno. The one where he's got the PR chick is pretty good.
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|Again, $150 million is not a "sizable" chunk of Apple.
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|Likewise, i would not expect the illiterate M$ drone trolls on here to understand.
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|depends how you define: "Just works". My Apple works just fine. Just like your M$ Vista might "just work" for you.
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|You are the troll pit.
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|Sure.
But saying "It just works" without following it up with, "for me" implies otherwise, which is, after all, the entire point of that marketing campaign.
{sarcasm}
And we all know you wouldn't parrot someone else's opinions or market-speak unless you knew what it meant, right?
{/sarcasm}
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|I believe it's been posted, but it is widely believed that Apple could very well have not survived (at least not in any way close to what it is now) without Microsoft's help.
Sure, it's pennies now, but when they were hurting in '97, it was enough to keep them from the brink. (Not to mention the effects of having Bill/MS on the board)
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|...the most fun gadget I've owned in a while.
Really! That other thing has been down there your whole life!!!!
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|You moron. $150 millions is sizable back in 1997 when AAPL was around $5 (split adjusted) with market cap around $4.5 billions. That mean that $150 million is 3.5% of total share outside.
In translation, that mean that $150 millions is not worth $5.25 billions
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|Not that I'm defending that pitdingo moron in any way, but the shares were convertible preferred (non-voting) stock. Now MS did convert them to a large quantity of common shares, but then sold them off for a profit. Just google it to see the details. They still have a small stake in some funds, but nothing like they had in 1997.
But I'm definitely in the "MS helped out Apple at the start big-time" group.
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|Definitely true - their $150 million contribution to Apple's capital definitely helped out.
I'm impartial to either company, but facts are facts.
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|IF you are saying what Apple says in it's ads is not what it's saying, than I understand why you are in such denial, thought I don't really know logistically why you would stick to it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_a_Mac
The whole ad campaign is bout the above, you can watch their ads and hear it, but maybe to many it means something entirely different to you.
Vista just works for me too, so does XP.
http://www.asa.org.uk/as...Public/TF_ADJ_42723.htm
Maybe just maybe you missed out on their no virus claim, because they stopped claiming it...but they did claim it.
also enjoy this youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQb_Q8WRL_g
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|At least we still know the RDF works. I was wondering there for a sec.
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|1st! Lies!!! Apple says it's perfect and just works!!!! Gotz ta be true...so resounds all their sheep. hehe...of course I don't believe the commercials, but they are entertaining in that amusing "special child" sort of way. ;)
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