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Oracle Outside In Microsoft Access 1.x parser stack buffer overflow

Vulnerability Note VU#953241

Original Release Date: 2013-10-16 | Last Revised: 2014-04-28

Overview

Oracle Outside In contains a stack buffer overflow vulnerability in the Microsoft Access 1.x database file parser, which can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

Description

Oracle Outside In is a set of libraries that can decode over 500 different file formats. Originally written by Stellent, Outside In is now part of Oracle. The Oracle Outside In libraries are used by a variety of applications, including Microsoft Exchange, Google Search Appliance, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Guidance Encase Forensics, AccessData FTK, and Novell Groupwise.

The Outside In library for processing Microsoft Access 1.x data contains a stack buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-121). On Microsoft Windows platforms, this capability is provided by the library vsacs.dll. Versions older than 8.4.0.108 and 8.4.1.52 are affected.

Impact

By causing an application to process a specially-crafted file with the Oracle Outside In library, a remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the vulnerable application. Depending on what application is using Outside In, this may happen as the result of some user interaction, such as single-clicking on a file, or it may happen with no user interaction at all.

Solution

Apply an update

This vulnerability is addressed in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Critical Patch Update - October 2013. This update provides versions 8.4.0.108 and 8.4.1.52 of the Microsoft Access 1.x parsing library. Note that Oracle has indicated that Outside In versions older than 8.4.0 are no longer supported. Please also consider the following workarounds.

Use the Microsoft Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit

The Microsoft Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) can be used to help prevent exploitation of this and other vulnerabilities.

Enable DEP in Microsoft Windows

Consider enabling Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in supported versions of Windows. DEP should not be treated as a complete workaround, but it can mitigate the execution of attacker-supplied code in some cases. Microsoft has published detailed technical information about DEP in Security Research & Defense blog posts "Understanding DEP as a mitigation technology" part 1 and part 2. DEP should be used in conjunction with the application of patches or other mitigations described in this document.

Note that when relying on DEP for exploit mitigation, it is important to use a system that supports Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) as well. ASLR is not supported by Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 or earlier. ASLR was introduced with Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Please see the Microsoft SRD blog entry: On the effectiveness of DEP and ASLR for more details.

Vendor Information

953241
 
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CVSS Metrics

Group Score Vector
Base 10.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Temporal 8.3 E:F/RL:OF/RC:C
Environmental 6.2 CDP:ND/TD:M/CR:ND/IR:ND/AR:ND

References

Acknowledgements

This vulnerability was reported by Will Dormann of the CERT/CC.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

CVE IDs: CVE-2013-5791
Date Public: 2013-10-15
Date First Published: 2013-10-16
Date Last Updated: 2014-04-28 18:27 UTC
Document Revision: 27

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