Software Engineering Institute

Winamp

Winamp is a media player for Microsoft Windows systems. It can play various types of media files, such as MP3s. Winamp was created by Nullsoft, which has been acquired by America Online.

Playlist

A Playlist (.PLS or .M3U) file is a text file that contains links to other media files to play. Winamp supports the use of playlist files.

The problem

Winamp contains a buffer overflow when it processes a playlist that has a large File parameter.

Note: Exploit code for this vulnerability is publicly available.

A remote unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code by convincing a user to open a specially crafted playlist. This can be achieved by creating a specially crafted web page or other HTML document that may launch Winamp without any user interaction.

Install an update

This vulnerability has been addressed by Winamp 5.2.

Disable Winamp playlist file association

Disable the file association for Winamp playlist files to help prevent windows applications from using Winamp to open playlists. This can be accomplished by deleting the following registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Winamp.Playlist
Configure your web browser

Because a web browser can be used as an attack vector for this vulnerability, configure your web browser to prompt before opening Winamp playlist files. This can help prevent automated exploitation as the result of viewing a web page.

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer will open Winamp playlist files without prompting the user. It is possible to modify this behavior so that Internet Explorer will prompt the user before opening Winamp playlist files. To make this change, modify the following registry value:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Winamp.Playlist\EditFlags

Set the value to: REG_BINARY 00 00 00 00

Mozilla Firefox

The default configuration of Mozilla Firefox appears to prompt before opening Winamp playlist files. However, if the user has chosen to have playlist files open without prompting, this behavior can be reset by following the instructions in the document Securing Your Web Browser. This document provides instructions for how to configure Mozilla Firefox to save various file types to disk, rather than opening them with the associated application.
Do not open Winamp playlist files

Do not open Winamp playlist files (.PLS or .M3U) from untrusted sources.