Summary : Buffer overflows in freetype renderer and HTML subtitle parser Date : January 2013 Affected versions : VLC media player 2.0.4 and earlier ID : VideoLAN-SA-1301 CVE reference : None
When parsing a specially crafted file, a buffer overflow might occur.
If successful, a malicious third party could trigger an invalid memory access, leading to a crash of VLC or arbitratry code execution.
Exploitation of this issue requires the user to explicitly open a specially crafted file. In the case of the subtitle vulnerability, subtitles must be enabled. ASLR and DEP help reduce exposure, but may be bypassed.
The user should refrain from opening files from untrusted third parties or accessing untrusted remote sites (or disable the VLC browser plugins), until the patch is applied.
VLC media player 2.0.5 addresses this issue. Patches for older versions are available from the official VLC source code repository 2.0.
This vulnerability was reported by Aliz Hammond.