Tech
'Highly critical' vulnerabilities in VLC media player
A pair of "highly critical" vulnerabilities in the cross-platform VLC Media Player could put millions of users at risk of remote code execution attacks, according to a warning from security researchers.The issues, reported in versions 0.
The issues, reported in versions 0.5.0 through 0.9.5, could let hackers take complete control of compromised machines through rigged media files. VideoLAN, the open-source group that manages the VLC project, has released patches and strongly recommends that users upgrade to VLC media player 0.9.6.
Technical details:
- An error in the CUE demuxer can be exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow via a specially crafted CUE image file.
- An error in the RealText demuxer can be exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow via a specially crafted RealText subtitle file.
Exploitation of this issue requires the user to explicitly open a specially crafted file. As with any media player, the standard advice is to avoid from opening files from untrusted third parties or accessing untrusted remote sites.