Microsoft is providing notification of the discovery and remediation of a vulnerability affecting OpenJPEG software version 1.4 and earlier versions. Microsoft discovered and disclosed the vulnerability under coordinated vulnerability disclosure to the affected vendor, OpenJPEG. OpenJPEG has remediated the vulnerability in their software.
The vulnerability exists in the way that the JPEG 2000 codec, included with OpenJPEG, handles allocation of memory when parsing specially crafted files. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
Microsoft Vulnerability Research reported this issue to and coordinated with OpenJPEG to ensure remediation of this issue. The vulnerability has been assigned the entry, CVE-2012-1499, in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list. For more information, including information about updates from OpenJPEG, see the project homepage.