Description: Nanika has discovered a bug in Microsoft PowerPoint, which can be exploited by malicious people to crash the application.
The bug is caused due to a NULL pointer dereference error when processing a PowerPoint presentation containing a container object with an invalid "position" value that is larger than the container's record length.
Originally, Microsoft stated, contrary to Secunia's internal findings, that successful exploitation could allow execution of arbitrary code. However, Microsoft has now officially retracted this statement and concludes in thread with Secunia that it's only possible to crash the application.
The bug is confirmed in Microsoft PowerPoint 2003. Other versions may also be affected.
Solution: Do not open untrusted Office documents.
The vendor reports that a fix is available and will be included in the next update for PowerPoint.
Provided and/or discovered by: Nanika
Changelog: 2006-10-27: Added CVE reference.
2006-11-11: Updated advisory with additional information from Microsoft and based on internal research.
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Please note: The information that this Secunia Advisory is based on comes from a third party unless stated otherwise.
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