KVIrc: Remote arbitrary code execution

Background

KVIrc is a free portable IRC client based on Qt.

Description

Stefan Cornelius from Secunia Research discovered that the “parseIrcUrl()” function in file src/kvirc/kernel/kvi_ircurl.cpp does not properly sanitise parts of the URI when building the command for KVIrc’s internal script system.

Impact

A remote attacker could entice a user to open a specially crafted irc:// URI, possibly leading to the remote execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running KVIrc. Successful exploitation requires that KVIrc is registered as the default handler for irc:// or similar URIs.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All KVIrc users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-irc/kvirc-3.2.6_pre20070714"