Apple Mac OS X fails to properly handle corrupted Universal Mach-O Binaries

Overview

A vulnerability in the way Apple Mac OS X handles corrupted Universal Mach-O Binaries may result in execution of arbitrary code or denial of service.

Description

Apple Mac OS X uses the Mach-O file format’s ability to support more than one type of machine code to create Mac OS X Universal binaries. Apple Mac OS X contains a vulnerability in the way corrupted Universal Mach-O Binaries are handled. According to Apple Security Update 2007-003:

An integer overflow vulnerability exists in the loading of Universal Mach-O binaries. This could allow a malicious local user to cause a kernel panic or to obtain system privileges. This has been described on the Month of Kernel Bugs web site (MOKB-26-11-2006). This update addresses the issue by performing additional validation of Universal binaries.

We are aware of publicly available proof-of-concept code that demonstrates this vulnerability.

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Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges or cause a denial of service.

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Solution

Upgrade

Apple has published Mac OS X 10.4.9 for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) systems and Security Update 2007-003 for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) systems in response to this issue. See Apple Security Update 2007-003 for more details.

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Disable Open “safe” files after downloading option

For instructions on how to disable the Open “safe” files after downloading option in Safari, please refer to the Safari section of the Securing Your Web Browser document.

Do not access Universal Binary files from untrusted sources

Do not download Universal Binary files from unknown or untrusted sources. Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected links, particularly those delivered in email messages. Please see Cyber Security Tip ST04-014.

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Vendor Information

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Apple Computer, Inc. __ Affected

Updated: March 14, 2007

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

The vendor has not provided us with any further information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

Refer to Apple Security Update 2007-003.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us [email](<mailto:[email protected]?Subject=VU%23346656 Feedback>).

CVSS Metrics

Group	Score	Vector
Base
Temporal
Environmental

References

• <http://projects.info-pull.com/mokb/MOKB-26-11-2006.html&gt;
• <http://projects.info-pull.com/mokb/bug-files/MOKB-26-11-2006.bz2&gt;
• <http://secunia.com/advisories/23088/&gt;
• <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305214&gt;
• <http://secunia.com/advisories/24479/&gt;
• <http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2007/Mar/1017751.html&gt;
• <http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/21291&gt;

Acknowledgements

This issue was reported in Month of Kernal Bugs MOKB-26-11-2006 by LMH.

This document was written by Chris Taschner.

Other Information

CVE IDs:	CVE-2006-6129
Severity Metric:	17.10 Date Public: