Summary : Buffer overflow in Real demuxer
Date : November 2008
Affected versions : VLC media player 0.9.8 down to 0.9.0
ID : VideoLAN-SA-0811
CVE reference : CVE-2008-5276
Details
When parsing the header of an invalid Real Media file
an integer overflow might occur then trigger a heap-based buffer overflow.
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 Real demuxer plugin
(libreal_plugin.*)
can be removed manually from the VLC plugin installation directory.
Solution
VLC media player 0.9.8a addresses this issue.
Patches for older versions are available
from the official VLC source code repository 0.9-bugfix branch.
