A critical security vulnerability, designated as CVE-2023-37327, has been identified in the popular multimedia processing library, GStreamer. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GStreamer through specially crafted FLAC audio files. Interaction with this library is necessary to exploit this vulnerability, but various attack vectors may exploit it depending on the specific implementation. The vulnerability was previously known as ZDI-CAN-20775.

Description

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in GStreamer's handling of FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio files. Specifically, there is a lack of proper validation of user-supplied data within the parsing process. This can result in an integer overflow before a buffer is allocated, leading to a critical buffer overflow vulnerability. Attackers can leverage this flaw to execute code within the current process context, potentially leading to a complete system compromise.

The following code snippet shows a simplified example of the vulnerable code

#include "gstflacparse.h"

// ...

static gboolean
gst_flac_parse_process_header (GstFlacParse * flacparse, GstBuffer * buf)
{
  guint32 length;
  gpointer data;

  // ...

  length = GST_READ_UINT24_BE (data + 1);
  data += length + 4; // Vulnerable line: integer overflow can occur

  // ...
}

Exploit Details

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker first crafts a malicious FLAC audio file containing malicious data designed to trigger the integer overflow and buffer overflow. Then, the attacker can distribute this malicious audio file, such as via social engineering or embedding it within a website. Depending on the GStreamer implementation, various delivery methods can be employed by the attacker.

When a victim opens the malicious FLAC file using an affected version of GStreamer, the integer overflow occurs, causing a buffer overflow within the current process context. This buffer overflow allows the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the victim's system.

Original References

More details about this vulnerability can be found in the original advisory published by the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) and the GStreamer security advisory:

- ZDI Advisory: ZDI-CAN-20775
- GStreamer Security Advisory: CVE-2023-37327

Mitigation

Users running affected versions of GStreamer are advised to update to the latest version as soon as possible, as this vulnerability is critical and can lead to system compromise. Additionally, users should only open audio files from trusted sources to minimize the risk of encountering a malicious FLAC file.

Conclusion

CVE-2023-37327 is a critical GStreamer vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems through crafted FLAC audio files. It is essential for users of GStreamer to update their software to the latest version to mitigate the risk of system compromise.

Timeline

Published on: 05/03/2024 02:15:43 UTC
Last modified on: 06/05/2024 18:30:39 UTC