VLC Media Player Vulnerable to Attack

[marioval]

Just an FYI, found this at yahoo News:

A flaw in the widely-used open-source VLC media player could allow an attacker to execute harmful code on a PC.
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The problem stems from a buffer overflow that can occur when the player processes subtitle files used for movies, according to a security advisory.

The vulnerability existed before VLC was upgraded to version 0.8.6e in late February, but the bug appears to have escaped the last round of patches, wrote Luigi Auriemma in a note.

"The funny thing is that my old proof-of-concept was built just to test this specific buffer overflow, and in fact it works on the new VLC version too without modifications," Auriemma wrote.

Video files can contain a link to a separate subtitle file, which VLC automatically loads when it plays the video. An attacker could use the buffer overflow flaw in VLC to execute malicious code contained in a subtitle file, and thus tamper with a PC. The flaw affects VLC players running on Windows, Mac, BSD and possibly more operating systems, Auriemma wrote.

The VLC media player is part of the VideoLAN project. The player is free, and it is released under the GNU General Public License. VLC can also be used as a streaming media server for a variety of platforms.

[redwudz]

But your malware scanning programs should detect the malicious subtitle before it get to VLC.

[oldandinthe way]

But your malware scanning programs should detect the malicious subtitle before it get to VLC.

Possibly, but not necessarily. It may not assume that a subtitle file is executable and therefore not recognize the risk.

[lacywest]

I dont use subtitles ... and I have no desire for any video with subtitles

[jman98]

The quick fix for VLC would be to simply disallow the automatic loading of subtitles (I had no idea this was even possible) and force to you manually specify the subtitle file to use (what I do), which you presumably would at least look at prior to opening to be sure it's really subtitles and not malicious code.