iDefense Security Advisory 06.10.08: Multiple Vendor FreeType2 PFB Integer Overflow Vulnerability
iDefense Security Advisory 06.10.08
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/
Jun 10, 2008
I. BACKGROUND
FreeType2 is an open source library for parsing fonts that is used by
many applications. This includes projects such as X.Org, Second Life,
and the Sun Java JRE. For more information, please see the vendor's
website at the following URL.
http://freetype.sourceforge.net/freetype2/
II. DESCRIPTION
Remote exploitation of an integer overflow vulnerability in the
FreeType2 library, as included in various vendors' operating systems,
could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges
of the affected application.
The vulnerability exists within the code responsible for parsing Printer
Font Binary (PFB) format font files. PFB files contain a section known
as the "Private" dictionary table which is used to describe how
characters are constructed. When parsing this data structure, a series
of 16-bit length values are read in from the file. These values are
added together and used to allocate a dynamic buffer. The addition can
result in an integer overflow, which subsequently leads to a heap
overflow.
III. ANALYSIS
Exploitation of this vulnerability results in the execution of arbitrary
code with the privileges of the application using the library. Since
FreeType2 is a library and not a standalone application, the
exploitation vector will vary. iDefense Labs verified that local
privilege escalation was possible via the X.Org Xserver.
IV. DETECTION
iDefense has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability in FreeType2
version 2.3.5. Previous versions may also be affected.
V. WORKAROUND
iDefense is currently unaware of any workarounds for this issue.
Changing the permissions on the freetype.so library may not always be
effective since applications that run with root privileges are not
restricted by file permissions.
VI. VENDOR RESPONSE
The FreeType maintainers addressed this vulnerability with the release
of version 2.3.6. For more information, refer to the release notes at
the following URL.
http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?group_id=3157&release_id=605780
VII. CVE INFORMATION
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
name CVE-2008-1806 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in
the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for
security problems.
VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE
06/03/2008 Initial vendor notification
06/04/2008 Initial vendor response
06/10/2008 Coordinated public disclosure
IX. CREDIT
This vulnerability was reported to iDefense by regenrecht.
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X. LEGAL NOTICES
Copyright © 2008 iDefense, Inc.
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at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use
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