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Apple Safari fails to properly handle archive files containing symbolic links

Vulnerability Note VU#519473

Original Release Date: 2006-05-12 | Last Revised: 2006-05-12

Overview

Apple Safari fails to properly handle archive files that contain symbolic links, which may allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.

Description

Safari

Apple Safari is a web browser that comes with the Mac OS X operating system.

Symbolic links

Symbolic links are references to files and folders.

"Safe" files

By default, Safari will automatically open "safe" file types, such as pictures, movies, and archive files, including ZIP files. If the contents of an archive file are also considered safe, then Safari will automatically open the contents after the archive is extracted.

The problem

Safari can automatically execute the symbolic link target when it is automatically extracted.

Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Solution

Apply an update
Apply Apple Security Update 2006-003. With this update, Safari will not resolve downloaded symbolic links.


Disable "Open 'safe' files after downloading"

Disable the option "Open 'safe' files after downloading," as specified in the Securing Your Web Browser document. This will help prevent automatic exploitation of this and other vulnerabilities.

Vendor Information

519473
 
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References

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Apple Product Security for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

CVE IDs: CVE-2006-1457
Severity Metric: 16.07
Date Public: 2006-05-11
Date First Published: 2006-05-12
Date Last Updated: 2006-05-12 18:48 UTC
Document Revision: 6

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