Software Engineering Institute

Online Media Technologies, which was formerly known as NCT Company, provides multimedia ActiveX controls for Microsoft Windows systems. The NCTAudioInformation2 ActiveX control, which is provided by NCTAudioInformation2.dll, contains multiple stack buffer overflows.

By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML document (e.g., a web page or an HTML email message or attachment), an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user.

We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem. Online Media Technologies has indicated that they will not be providing any updates for NCTSoft ActiveX controls. Please consider the following workarounds:

Disable the NCTAudioInformation2 ActiveX control in Internet Explorer

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

{AAFA1E73-4842-4BEC-BC46-48C62E1C5C9C}
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\{AAFA1E73-4842-4BEC-BC46-48C62E1C5C9C}]
"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.