Apple Patches QuickTime Flaw Security Hole Puts Users at Risk of Buffer Overflow Attacks Ryan Naraine
A security hole in Apple's QuickTime media player could put users at risk of buffer overflow attacks, the computer maker warned in an advisory.
Apple released a fix for the QuickTime issue along with patches for seven other flaws in Mac OS X that could lead to security bypass, exposure of sensitive information, Denial-of-Service attacks, and system compromise.
According to the advisory, the QuickTime flaws were detected in the way the media player decodes BMP image types. A successful attacker could overwrite heap memory and potentially allow the execution of arbitrary code hidden in an image.
Independent research firm Secunia rates the Mac OS X vulnerabilities as "highly critical."
The mega patch also plugs a hole in the operating system's AFP Server, which can be exploited by guest users to disconnect AFP volumes by sending specially crafted SessionDestroy packets.
Apple said it also found a vulnerability in CUPS and warned that an attacker could trigger DoS attacks or steal users' passwords from log files.
The company also released patches for a security issue in the NetInfo Manager utility that may result in an incorrect indication of the root account being disabled. Apple also corrected a security issue in postfix with "SMTPD AUTH" enabled.
Additional information on the patches is available here.
