CVE-2007-6718 in MPlayer
Summary
by MITRE
MPlayer, possibly 1.0rc1, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (SIGSEGV and application crash) via (1) a malformed MP3 file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.mp3; (2) a malformed Ogg Vorbis file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.ogg; (3) a malformed MPEG-1 file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.mpg; (4) a malformed MPEG-2 file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.m2v; (5) a malformed MPEG-4 AVI file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.avi; (6) a malformed FLAC file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.flac; (7) a malformed Ogg Theora file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.ogm; (8) a malformed WMV file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.wmv; or (9) a malformed AAC file, as demonstrated by lol-mplayer.aac. NOTE: vector 5 might overlap CVE-2007-4938, and vector 6 might overlap CVE-2008-0486.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/02/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-6718 represents a critical denial of service flaw within MPlayer version 1.0rc1 and potentially earlier releases. This vulnerability manifests through multiple media file format parsers that fail to properly validate input data, leading to segmentation faults and application crashes when processing specifically crafted malformed media files. The affected formats span across numerous popular audio and video codecs including MP3 Ogg Vorbis MPEG-1 MPEG-2 MPEG-4 AVI FLAC Ogg Theora WMV and AAC, demonstrating a widespread parsing weakness that affects core multimedia processing capabilities. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it allows remote attackers to trigger system instability through simple file delivery without requiring any special privileges or complex exploitation techniques.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms within MPlayer's multimedia file parsing subsystem. When the application encounters malformed data structures within these media files, the parser fails to properly handle error conditions, resulting in memory corruption that ultimately leads to SIGSEGV signals and subsequent application termination. The specific files referenced in the vulnerability description such as lol-mplayer.mp3 and lol-mplayer.ogg serve as proof-of-concept demonstrations that highlight how seemingly innocuous media files can be crafted to exploit buffer overflows or improper memory management within the player's codebase. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-125 out-of-bounds read conditions and CWE-787 out-of-bounds write conditions that are commonly found in multimedia processing applications due to the complex nature of media format parsing.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to users who rely on MPlayer for media playback, particularly in environments where users might encounter untrusted media content. The remote attack vector means that malicious actors can deliver exploit payloads through email attachments web downloads or file sharing networks without requiring user interaction beyond opening the media file. The impact extends beyond simple application crashes to potentially compromise user systems through cascading effects where the application failure might lead to system instability or provide attackers with opportunities for further exploitation. This vulnerability directly maps to attack techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1203 legitimate program execution and T1499 endpoint denial of service tactics.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2007-6718 primarily involve immediate software updates and patches from the MPlayer development team, as well as implementing defensive measures such as input validation at network boundaries and restricting media file execution in sensitive environments. Organizations should consider implementing media file scanning and validation protocols before allowing automatic playback of downloaded content. The vulnerability's overlap with other CVE identifiers including CVE-2007-4938 and CVE-2008-0486 suggests that similar parsing issues may exist within the same codebase, warranting comprehensive code review and security auditing of all multimedia processing components. Additionally, users should be educated about the risks of opening untrusted media files and organizations should maintain updated security patches for all multimedia applications to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in related software ecosystems.