Microsoft PowerPoint does not properly handle malformed shapes

Overview

Microsoft PowerPoint contains a vulnerability that may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Description

Microsoft PowerPoint contains a vulnerability that could be exploited when PowerPoint opens a specially crafted document. According to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-048, "The vulnerability is caused when PowerPoint opens a specially crafted PowerPoint file and parses a malformed shape. This vulnerability affects both Windows and Mac versions of PowerPoint.

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Impact

By convincing a user to open a specially crafted PowerPoint document, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running PowerPoint. If the user is logged in with administrative privileges, the attacker could take complete control of a vulnerable system. Depending on the version and patch level of PowerPoint, this vulnerability may cause PowerPoint to crash.

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Solution

Apply an update

This vulnerability is addressed by the updates documented in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-048.

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Do not open untrusted PowerPoint documents

Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected PowerPoint or other Office documents, particularly those hosted on web sites or delivered as email attachments. Please see Cyber Security Tip ST04-010.

Do not rely on file name extension filtering

In most cases, Windows will call PowerPoint to open a document even if the document has an unknown file extension. For example, if presentation.qwer contains the correct file header information, Windows will open presentation.qwer with PowerPoint. Filtering for common extensions (e.g., .ppt, .pot, and .pps) will not detect all PowerPoint documents. Additionally, a PowerPoint file with no file extension will also open with the PowerPoint application.

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Vendor Information

936945

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Updated: October 05, 2006

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

Please see Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-048.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us [email](<mailto:[email protected]?Subject=VU%23936945 Feedback>).

CVSS Metrics

Group	Score	Vector
Base
Temporal
Environmental

References

• <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-048.mspx&gt;
• <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/922970.mspx&gt;
• <http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/18957&gt;
• <http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.ppdropper.b.html&gt;
• <http://secunia.com/advisories/21040/&gt;
• <http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=1484&gt;
• <http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2006/Jul/1016496.html&gt;
• <http://blogs.securiteam.com/?p=508&gt;

Acknowledgements

Microsoft credits Elia Florio of Symantec, Dejun Meng of the Fortinet Security Research Team, and Shih-hao Weng of Information & Communication Security Technology Center for reporting the Microsoft PowerPoint Mso.dll Vulnerability.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

CVE IDs:	CVE-2006-3590
Severity Metric:	22.49 Date Public: