iDefense Security Advisory 12.05.05: Multiple Vendor xpdf DCTStream Baseline Heap Overflow Vulnerability

Multiple Vendor xpdf DCTStream Baseline Heap Overflow Vulnerability

iDefense Security Advisory 12.05.05
www.idefense.com/application/poi/display?id=342&type=vulnerabilities
December 5, 2005

I. BACKGROUND

Xpdf is an open-source viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

II. DESCRIPTION

Local exploitation of a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in
xpdf, as included in various vendors' operating system distributions,
could allow attackers to cause a denial of service condition,
potentially resulting in arbitrary code execution.

The vulnerability specifically exists due to insufficient input
validation in the DCT stream parsing code. The
DCTStream::readBaselineSOF function from xpdf/Stream.cc takes the value
of numComps from user-controllable data from within the PDF file. The
numComps value is used in a loop to copy data from the file into a pre-
allocated buffer in the heap, shown as follows:

GBool DCTStream::readBaselineSOF() {
…
numComps = str->getChar();
…
for (i = 0; i < numComps; ++i) {
compInfo[i].id = str->getChar();
c = str->getChar();
compInfo[i].hSample = (c >> 4) & 0x0f;
compInfo[i].vSample = c & 0x0f;
compInfo[i].quantTable = str->getChar();
}
…

Overly large values supplied to numComps will result in corruption of
heap memory resulting in a DoS condition, potentially resulting in
arbitrary code execution.

III. ANALYSIS

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can result in arbitrary
code execution with privileges of the xpdf process. Currently,
exploitation resulting in code execution is theoretical and dependant
on the process memory layout. A typical exploitation attempt would
require an attacker to supply a malicious .pdf to the victim. The
victim would need to open the corrupt .pdf file in xpdf, triggering the
vulnerability.

IV. DETECTION

iDefense has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability in xpdf
3.01. All earlier versions of xpdf are suspected vulnerable.

The following vendors include susceptible xpdf packages within their
operating system distributions:

. The Debian Project: Linux 3.0 and 3.1 

V. WORKAROUND

iDefense is currently unaware of any effective workarounds for this
vulnerability.

VI. VENDOR RESPONSE

A patch for this vulnerability is available at:

ftp://ftp.foolabs.com/pub/xpdf/xpdf-3.01pl1.patch

Updated binaries (version 3.01pl1) are available at:

http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/download.html

VII. CVE INFORMATION

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
name CAN-2005-3191 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

10/13/2005 Initial vendor notification
10/19/2005 Initial vendor response
12/05/2005 Coordinated public disclosure

IX. CREDIT

iDefense credits [email protected] with the discovery of this
vulnerability.

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X. LEGAL NOTICES

Copyright C 2005 iDefense, Inc.

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Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate
at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use
of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition.
There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the
author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect,
or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on,
this information.