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AOL Instant Messenger "Away" Message Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
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Secunia Advisory:
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SA12198
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Release Date:
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2004-08-09
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Last Update:
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2004-08-11
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Critical:
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Highly critical
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Impact:
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System access
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Where:
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From remote
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Solution Status:
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Vendor Workaround
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| Software: | AOL Instant Messenger 5.x
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| | CVE reference: | CVE-2004-0636 (Secunia mirror)
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Description:
Ryan McGeehan has reported a vulnerability in AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.
The vulnerability is caused due to a boundary error within the handling of "Away" messages and can be exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow by supplying an overly long "Away" message (about 1024 bytes). A malicious website can exploit this via the "aim:" URI handler by passing an overly long argument to the "goaway?message" parameter.
Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code on a user's system when e.g. a malicious website is visited with certain browsers.
The vulnerability has been confirmed in version 5.5.3595. Other versions may also be affected.
NOTE: Various other issues were also reported, where a large amount of resources can be consumed on a user's system.
Solution:
The vendor has contacted Secunia and recommends that users install a beta version, which addresses the vulnerability, or remove support for the "aim:" URI handler by deleting the "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\aim" registry key.
A new non-beta version is forthcoming.
Provided and/or discovered by:
The vulnerability was discovered independently by the following around the same time:
1) Ryan McGeehan and Kevin Benes, TheBillyGoatCurse.com.
2) Matt Murphy
Changelog:
2004-08-10: Updated "Solution" section and credits. Added CVE reference.
2004-08-11: Added link to US-CERT vulnerability note.
Other References:
iDEFENSE:
http://www.idefense.com/application/poi/display?id=121&type=vulnerabilities
US-CERT VU#735966:
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/735966
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Please note: The information that this Secunia Advisory is based on comes from a third party unless stated otherwise.
Secunia collects, validates, and verifies all vulnerability reports issued by security research groups, vendors, and others.
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3 Related Secunia Security Advisories
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1. AOL Instant Messenger File Transfer Directory Traversal Vulnerability
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2. AOL Instant Messenger Predictable File Location Weakness
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3. AOL Instant Messenger File Transfer Error Message Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
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