Software Engineering Institute

The Earth Resource Mapping NCSView ActiveX control, which is provided by NCSView.dll, is used to view maps in the Internet Explorer web browser. The NCSView ActiveX control contains multiple stack buffer overflows.

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system with privileges of the user.

Apply an update

This vulnerability is addressed in version 3.4.0.242 of the NCSView ActiveX control. This control is included with version 8.1 of the ER Mapper ECW JPEG 2000 Plug-in package. More details are available in the ER Mapper security advisory. If you are unable to install an updated version of the control, please consider the following workarounds

Disable the NCSView ActiveX control in Internet Explorer

The vulnerable ActiveX control can be disabled in Internet Explorer by setting the kill bit for the following CLSID:

{8EC18CE2-D7B4-11D2-88C8-006008A717FD}
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 this control:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{8EC18CE2-D7B4-11D2-88C8-006008A717FD}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400
Disable ActiveX

Disabling ActiveX controls in the Internet Zone (or any zone used by an attacker) appears to prevent exploitation of this and other ActiveX vulnerabilities. Instructions for disabling ActiveX in the Internet Zone can be found in the "Securing Your Web Browser" document.