Software Engineering Institute

Apple's QuickTime is a player for files and streaming media in a variety of different formats, including QuickTime Image Format (QTIF) files. An integer overflow exists in QuickTime's handling of QTIF files. This flaw results in a vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Note that this issue affects QuickTime installations on both Apple Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

A remote unauthenticated attacker with the ability to supply a maliciously crafted QuickTime image file (.qtif) could execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system or cause the application using QuickTime to crash. The attacker-supplied code would be executed with the privileges of the user opening the malicious file. The crafted QTIF image may be supplied on a webpage or in email, or by some other means designed to encourage the victim to invoke QuickTime or an application that uses it on the exploit image.

Install an update

Apple has addressed this issue with QuickTime 7.1.5, as specified in Apple Support Document 305149. An update for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows is available on Apple Downloads and via Software Update.

Disable the QuickTime ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer

The vulnerable QuickTime ActiveX controls can be disabled in Internet Explorer by setting the kill bit for the following CLSIDs:

{02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B}
{4063BE15-3B08-470D-A0D5-B37161CFFD69}

More information about how to set the kill bit is available in Microsoft Support Document 240797. Alternatively, the following text can be saved as a .REG file and imported to set the kill bit for these controls:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{4063BE15-3B08-470D-A0D5-B37161CFFD69}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

Disable the QuickTime plug-in for Mozilla-based browsers

Users of Mozilla-based browsers, such as Firefox can disable the QuickTime plugin, as specified in the PluginDoc article Uninstalling Plugins.

Disable file association for QuickTime files

Disable the file association for QuickTime file types to help prevent windows applications from using Apple QuickTime to open QuickTime files. This can be accomplished by deleting the following registry keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\QuickTime.*

This will remove the association for approximately 32 file types that are configured to open with the QuickTime Player software.

Disable JavaScript

For instructions on how to disable JavaScript, please refer to the Securing Your Web Browser document. This can help prevent some attack techniques that use the QuickTime plug-in or ActiveX control.

Do not access QuickTime files from untrusted sources

Attackers may host malicious QuickTime files on web sites. In order to convince users to visit their sites, those attackers often use a variety of techniques to create misleading links including URL encoding, IP address variations, long URLs, and intentional misspellings. Do not click on unsolicited links received in email, instant messages, web forums, or internet relay chat (IRC) channels. Type URLs directly into the browser to avoid these misleading links. While these are generally good security practices, following these behaviors will not prevent exploitation of this vulnerability in all cases, particularly if a trusted site has been compromised or allows cross-site scripting.