Yahoo! Messenger YMailAttach ActiveX Control Buffer Overflow
Secunia Advisory: SA23401
Release Date: 2006-12-15
Last Update: 2007-01-08
Popularity: 19,514 views

Critical:
Highly critical
Impact: System access
Where: From remote
Solution Status: Vendor Patch

Software:Yahoo! Messenger 5.x
Yahoo! Messenger 6.x
Yahoo! Messenger 7.x
Yahoo! Messenger 8.x

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CVE reference:CVE-2006-6603


Description:
A vulnerability has been reported in Yahoo! Messenger, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the YMailAttach ActiveX control when handling the TextETACalculating property. This can be exploited to cause a heap-based buffer overflow by setting an overly long string to the said property.

Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code and requires that the user is e.g. tricked into visiting a malicious web site.

The vulnerability is reported in version 8.0 and 7.5. Other versions may also be affected.

Solution:
Update to the latest version.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/

Provided and/or discovered by:
Discovered by Peter Vreugdenhil and reported via iDefense Labs.

Changelog:
2006-12-18: Added link to US-CERT.
2006-12-21: Added CVE reference.
2007-01-08: Updated "Description" section to include new information from iDefense.

Original Advisory:
Yahoo:
http://messenger.yahoo.com/security_update.php?id=120806

iDefense Labs:
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=456

Other References:
US-CERT VU#901852:
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/901852


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