CVE-2007-6236 in Windows Media Player
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft Windows Media Player (WMP) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a certain AIFF file that triggers a divide-by-zero error, as demonstrated by kr.aiff.
Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/12/2024
Microsoft Windows Media Player version 11 and earlier contains a critical buffer overflow vulnerability that arises from improper input validation when processing AIFF audio files. This vulnerability specifically manifests when the application encounters a malformed kr.aiff file that contains a divide-by-zero error condition during audio frame parsing. The flaw exists in the media decoding engine where the application fails to properly validate the header information and frame data structure of AIFF files, leading to an arithmetic exception that causes the application to terminate unexpectedly. The vulnerability is classified as a divide-by-zero error according to CWE-369, which represents a condition where a program attempts to divide by zero, causing an exception that results in application instability. When an attacker crafts a malicious AIFF file with specific header values that trigger this arithmetic exception, the Windows Media Player application crashes and becomes unavailable to legitimate users, creating a denial of service condition that can be exploited remotely through various attack vectors including email attachments, web downloads, or network shares. The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple application crash as it represents a fundamental flaw in the input sanitization process of the media player's audio parsing subsystem. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks, and T1595.001 which involves reconnaissance techniques used to identify target systems. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires no special privileges or authentication to exploit, making it accessible to any remote attacker who can convince a user to open the malicious file. The technical implementation involves the media player's handling of the AIFF file format's frame header information where the application attempts to calculate frame sizes or sample rates based on corrupted header values that result in division by zero operations. This type of vulnerability is characteristic of buffer overflows and arithmetic errors that occur in media processing libraries where input validation is insufficient. The exploitability of this vulnerability is enhanced by the widespread use of Windows Media Player across enterprise and consumer environments, making it an attractive target for attackers seeking to disrupt services or create distractions while conducting more sophisticated attacks. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including disabling AIFF file support in media players, implementing network-based intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious file transfers, and applying security patches when available. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of input validation and error handling in multimedia applications, as proper exception handling and input sanitization could prevent this type of arithmetic exception from causing application termination. This flaw demonstrates how legacy media processing code can contain fundamental security issues that persist across multiple versions of software platforms. Security professionals should consider this vulnerability as part of a broader threat landscape where multimedia applications represent common attack surfaces due to their complex parsing requirements and the variety of file formats they must support. The vulnerability's classification under CWE-369 indicates that it represents a serious weakness in the software's ability to handle malformed input data, which can lead to more severe consequences if similar flaws exist in other parts of the application or underlying libraries. Organizations should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies that restrict the execution of media players on critical systems and deploy security awareness training to prevent users from opening suspicious media files from untrusted sources. The remediation approach should include not only patching the specific vulnerability but also conducting comprehensive code reviews of media processing components to identify similar arithmetic error conditions that could lead to similar denial of service scenarios.