Secunia Research: Microsoft Word LFO Parsing Double-Free Vulnerability

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                 Secunia Research 23/12/2010

    - Microsoft Word LFO Parsing Double-Free Vulnerability -

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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

• Microsoft Word 2002 (10.6856.6858) SP3

NOTE: Other versions may also be affected.

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2) Severity

Rating: Highly critical
Impact: System access
Where: From remote

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3) Vendor's Description of Software

"Office Word … provides editing and reviewing tools that help you
create professional documents more easily than ever before."

Product Link:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/default.aspx

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4) Description of Vulnerability

Secunia Research has discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft Word,
which can be exploited by malicious people to potentially compromise
a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused by a double-free error when processing LFO
(List Format Override) records and can be exploited to corrupt memory
via a specially crafted Word document.

Successful exploitation may allow execution of arbitrary code.

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5) Solution

Apply patches provided by MS10-079.

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6) Time Table

25/05/2010 - Vendor notified.
25/05/2010 - Vendor response.
22/12/2010 - Vendor informs that due to a mishap the vulnerability
report fell off their radar. The vulnerability has in the
meantime been fixed by MS10-079, which will be updated
accordingly with proper credits.
23/12/2010 - Public disclosure.

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7) Credits

Discovered by Alin Rad Pop, Secunia Research.

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8) References

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned
CVE-2010-3217 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
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Secunia believes that it is important to support the community and to
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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/

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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/2010-76/

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

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