CVE-2007-2392 in QuickTime
Summary
by MITRE
Apple Quicktime before 7.2 on Mac OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.9 allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted movie file that triggers memory corruption.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/25/2025
Apple QuickTime versions prior to 7.2 on Mac OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.9 contained a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enabled remote code execution through maliciously crafted movie files. This vulnerability represents a classic buffer overflow condition where the QuickTime player failed to properly validate input data when processing specially constructed movie files. The flaw occurred during the parsing of movie file headers and metadata, where insufficient bounds checking allowed attackers to overwrite adjacent memory locations with malicious payloads. This type of vulnerability maps directly to CWE-121 Stack-based Buffer Overflow and CWE-122 Heap-based Buffer Overflow categories, which are fundamental weaknesses in memory management that have historically been primary attack vectors for privilege escalation and code execution exploits.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was severe as it required only a user to open a maliciously crafted movie file to trigger the exploit, making it particularly dangerous in social engineering scenarios. Attackers could embed malicious code within movie files that would execute when the QuickTime player attempted to parse the corrupted data structures. The memory corruption could lead to arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the QuickTime player, potentially allowing full system compromise. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution, where attackers leverage application vulnerabilities to execute malicious code on target systems. The attack vector was particularly insidious because QuickTime was widely installed on Mac systems and commonly used for media playback, making the attack surface extensive and the exploitation relatively straightforward.
The vulnerability was addressed through Apple's security updates that introduced proper input validation and memory boundary checking within the QuickTime movie file parser. Users running affected versions of Mac OS X were advised to immediately install the latest QuickTime update to mitigate the risk. The fix involved implementing robust bounds checking mechanisms that prevented the overwriting of memory regions during movie file processing. Organizations should have implemented security awareness training to educate users about the risks of opening untrusted media files, as this vulnerability could be exploited through various attack vectors including email attachments, web downloads, and malicious websites. The incident highlighted the importance of regular security patching and proper input validation in multimedia processing applications, as these types of vulnerabilities continue to represent significant risks in operating system and application security.