__________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN Apple Mac OS X Help Viewer Vulnerability [US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#578798] May 24, 2004 17:00 GMT Number O-151 ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: Apple Mac OS X help system contains vulnerability in the default URI protocol handler. PLATFORM: Apple Mac OS X 10.3.3 “Panther” and Mac OS X 10.3.3 Server Apple Mac OS X 10.2.8 “Jaguar” and Mac OS X 10.2.8 Server DAMAGE: The runscript function of the Help.app application contains a vulnerability that would allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary scripts on a victim’s system. SOLUTION: Download updated software. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY The risk is MEDIUM. A remote attacker can execute arbitrary ASSESSMENT: files with interpretable scripts. ______________________________________________________________________________ LINKS: CIAC BULLETIN: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/o-151.shtml ORIGINAL BULLETIN: http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/578798 ADDITIONAL LINK: Apple http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798 CVE/CAN: http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name= CVE-2004-0486 ______________________________________________________________________________ [***** Start US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#578798 *****] Vulnerability Note VU#578798 Apple Mac OS X help system may interpret inappropriate local script files Overview A vulnerability has been reported in the default URI protocol handler in Apple's Mac OS X help system. Exploitation of this vulnerability may permit a remote attacker to execute arbitrary scripts on the local system. I. Description A vulnerability has been reported in Apple's Mac OS X runscript function of the Help.app application. Using the "help://" URI handler, a remote attacker may be able to create an HTML file that will execute local scripts on the target user's system. If exploited conjunction with VU#210606, a remote attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code of the attacker's choosing. Browsers or other applications supporting this help system URI handler enabled by default on Mac OS X have been reported to be vulnerable. II. Impact A remote attacker may be able to run arbitrary files with interpretable script on a vulnerable system. III. Solution Download updated software per Apple's Security Update notice: * Apple's Software Downloads web site: For Mac OS X 10.3.3 "Panther" and Mac OS X 10.3.3 Server ======================================================== http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate__2004-05-24_(10_3_3).html The download file is named: "SecUpd2004-05-24Pan.dmg" Its SHA-1 digest is: 8e505ac4e36393f44e9d1b27ac0bd9a9e9f5b6a2 For Mac OS X 10.2.8 "Jaguar" and Mac OS X 10.2.8 Server ======================================================= http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate_2004-05-24_(10_2_8).html The download file is named: "SecUpd2004-05-24Jag.dmg" Its SHA-1 digest is: 8c084551505fb4e7131afbf8bce14475bdc5f946 According to a posting on Secunia, users may be able to mitigate the potential impact of this reported vulnerability by changing the protocol helpers (applications) for URI handlers which are not required, (e.g., disable "help://" execution). Systems Affected Vendor Status Date Updated Apple Computer Inc. Vulnerable 24-May-2004 References http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/210606 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798 http://secunia.com/advisories/11622/ http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2004/May/1010167.html http://www.apple.com/support/security/security_updates.html Credit Thanks to Kang for reporting this vulnerability. This document was written by Jason A Rafail and is based on information from Secunia.com and SecurityTracker.com. Other Information Date Public 05/17/2004 Date First Published 05/21/2004 05:59:55 PM Date Last Updated 05/24/2004 CERT Advisory CVE Name CAN-2004-0486 Metric 19.89 Document Revision 7 If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email. [***** End US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#578798 *****] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of US-CERT for the information contained in this bulletin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination among computer security teams worldwide. CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. 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Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. 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