Microsoft Office PNG File CVE-2013-1331 Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

Description

Microsoft Office is prone to a remote stack-based buffer-overflow vulnerability because the software fails to perform adequate boundary checks on user-supplied data. An attacker can exploit this issue by enticing a victim to open a malicious PNG file. Successfully exploiting this issue would allow the attacker to corrupt memory and execute arbitrary code in the context of the currently logged-in user.

Technologies Affected

• Microsoft Office 2003
• Microsoft Office 2003 SP1
• Microsoft Office 2003 SP2
• Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac

Recommendations

Run all software as a nonprivileged user with minimal access rights.
To mitigate the impact of a successful exploit, run the affected application as a user with minimal access rights.

Deploy network intrusion detection systems to monitor network traffic for malicious activity.
Deploy NIDS to monitor network traffic for signs of suspicious or anomalous activity. This may help detect malicious actions that an attacker may take after successfully exploiting vulnerabilities in applications. Review all applicable logs regularly.

Do not accept or execute files from untrusted or unknown sources.
Never accept files from untrusted or unknown sources, because they may be malicious in nature. Avoid opening email attachments from unknown or questionable sources.

Do not accept communications that originate from unknown or untrusted sources.
Do not accept or preview emails that come from unknown or unsolicited locations.

Implement multiple redundant layers of security.
Since this issue may be leveraged to execute code, we recommend memory-protection schemes, such as nonexecutable stack/heap configurations and randomly mapped memory segments. This tactic may complicate exploit attempts of memory-corruption vulnerabilities.

Updates are available. Please see the references or vendor advisory for more information.