Re: Infected jpeg files?

From: zen-parse (zen-parseat_private)
Date: Fri Nov 09 2001 - 02:41:07 PST

  • Next message: Matias Sedalo: "Re: vi buffer overflow"

    > Is it possible to get infected by just viewing jpeg files?
    
    Hmm. Potentially. With conditions.
    
    I released an exploit for xloadimage, which exploited an overflow in the 
    handling of a particular image format that would allow execution of code.
    
    xloadimage was set as the default handler for TIFF format images for 
    netscape under redhat 7.0. 
    
    The actual format used was FACES, but by putting the extension .tif on the
    file, the webserver it was on sent it as the mime-type image/x-tiff and as
    xloadimage doesn't use the extension to determine file types, it was able
    to try deal with it, and be exploited.  The code would also be executed
    'on the ground' if you viewed the file with xloadimage.
    
    If the program used to view the image wasn't vulnerable, the file
    displayed as a light grey square, otherwise it executed the shellcode,
    which caused a bind shell to be executed. By replacing the shellcode with
    other code, it would potentially be possible to infect other files of the
    appropriate format. (This would probably be quite easy to develop, because
    there is not the same problem of not being allowed 0x00 in image files as
    their is in many other exploits that require shellcode.)
    
    However, this approach requires an exploitable bug in a viewer program,
    and for most image formats would require corrupting the file in some
    manner that would make it not display properly for other viewers.
    
    And using a bug like this to spread viruses would be kind of lame, IMO.
    
    I played with other formats that xloadimage would handle, and while I was
    able to get it to segfault with jpeg (and other format) images, I found
    the FACEs format was easy to exploit, and didn't look very hard at any
    other format.
    
    -- zen-parse
    
    --
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The preceding information is confidential and may not be redistributed
    without explicit permission. Legal action may be taken to enforce this.  
    If this message was posted by zen-parseat_private to a public forum it may
    be redistributed as long as these conditions remain attached. If you are
    mum or dad, this probably doesn't apply to you.
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Nov 09 2001 - 11:32:20 PST