Secunia Research: Creative Software AutoUpdate Engine 2 ActiveX Control Buffer Overflow

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                 Secunia Research 11/06/2010

                     - Creative Software -
    - AutoUpdate Engine 2 ActiveX Control Buffer Overflow -

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Table of Contents

Affected Software…1
Severity…2
Vendor's Description of Software…3
Description of Vulnerability…4
Solution…5
Time Table…6
Credits…7
References…8
About Secunia…9
Verification…10

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1) Affected Software

• Creative Software AutoUpdate Engine ActiveX Control 2.0.12.0 as
  bundled with Creative Software AutoUpdate 1.40.01.

NOTE: Other versions may also be affected.

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2) Severity

Rating: Highly critical
Impact: System compromise
Where: Remote

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3) Vendor's Description of Software

"Creative Software Autoupdate detects Creative products and software
installed on your PC and determines whether your PC contains the
latest versions of Creative software and drivers.".

Product Link:
http://www.creative.com/support/downloads/su.asp

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4) Description of Vulnerability

Secunia Research has discovered a vulnerability in Creative Software
AutoUpdate Engine 2 ActiveX control, which can be exploited by
malicious people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused by a boundary error in a callback
function used when handling the "BrowseFolder()" method. This can be
exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow via an overly long
string argument.

Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code.

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5) Solution

Set the kill-bit for the affected ActiveX control.

The vulnerability is reportedly fixed in an upcoming version 2.0.13.

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6) Time Table

26/03/2010 - Vendor contacted to obtain security contact details.
29/03/2010 - Vendor response with details on security contact.
29/03/2010 - Vulnerability report sent to security contact (along with
references to SA30403 and SA26800).
07/04/2010 - Vendor response (requesting additional details).
07/04/2010 - Additional details provided.
08/04/2010 - Vendor response (fix expected within 2-3 days).
16/04/2010 - Status update requested.
16/04/2010 - Vendor response (build ready and now preparing
deployment strategy).
24/05/2010 - Status update requested.
31/05/2010 - Status update requested (2nd attempt).
01/06/2010 - Vendor response (still verifying deployment method).
04/06/2010 - Vendor response (fixes are deployed early next week).
04/06/2010 - Vendor informed that the Secunia advisory is scheduled
for Wednesday 9th June 2010. Asked the vendor for
version information on fixes.
09/06/2010 - Vendor response (information on fixed versions). Noticed
that the vulnerable versions are still available.
10/06/2010 - Vulnerable versions still available instead of the fixed
versions. Vendor informed that the advisory will go out
on Friday 11th June 2010.
11/06/2010 - Public disclosure.

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7) Credits

Discovered by Carsten Eiram, Secunia Research.

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8) References

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned
CVE-2010-0990 for the vulnerability.

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9) About Secunia

Secunia offers vulnerability management solutions to corporate
customers with verified and reliable vulnerability intelligence
relevant to their specific system configuration:

http://secunia.com/advisories/business_solutions/

Secunia also provides a publicly accessible and comprehensive advisory
database as a service to the security community and private
individuals, who are interested in or concerned about IT-security.

http://secunia.com/advisories/

Secunia believes that it is important to support the community and to
do active vulnerability research in order to aid improving the
security and reliability of software in general:

http://secunia.com/secunia_research/

Secunia regularly hires new skilled team members. Check the URL below
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http://secunia.com/corporate/jobs/

Secunia offers a FREE mailing list called Secunia Security Advisories:

http://secunia.com/advisories/mailing_lists/

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10) Verification

Please verify this advisory by visiting the Secunia website:
http://secunia.com/secunia_research/2010-52/

Complete list of vulnerability reports published by Secunia Research:
http://secunia.com/secunia_research/

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