A vulnerability was found in the GStreamer RealMedia demuxer (gst-plugins-ugly). When processing a RealMedia (.rm) file, the demuxer parses MDPR (media properties) chunks to configure audio streams. For audio stream header versions 4 and 5, the parser reads fields such as codec type, packet size, sample rate, channel count, and extra codec data length from fixed offsets within the chunk without first checking that the chunk contains enough data. If a malicious file provides an MDPR chunk that is too small to contain a complete audio stream header, the parser reads beyond the end of the buffer. This can cause the application to crash. In some cases, bytes read past the buffer boundary may be incorporated into stream metadata, which could result in limited information disclosure.
Weakness
The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.
Affected Software
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gst-plugins-ugly1.0 | Ubuntu | upstream | * |
Potential Mitigations
- Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
- When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
- Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
- To reduce the likelihood of introducing an out-of-bounds read, ensure that you validate and ensure correct calculations for any length argument, buffer size calculation, or offset. Be especially careful of relying on a sentinel (i.e. special character such as NUL) in untrusted inputs.