Check Point Advisories

RealNetworks Helix Server DESCRIBE Request Buffer Overflow (CVE-2006-6026)

Vulnerability
Protection

Check Point Reference:	CPAI-2006-277
Date Published:	27 Dec 2009
Severity:	Critical
Last Updated:	Sunday 27 December, 2009
Source:
Industry Reference:	CVE-2006-6026
Protection Provided by:	Security Gateway R81, R80, R77, R75
Who is Vulnerable?
Vulnerability Description	Helix Server is a multi-media server that is designed to serve streaming and static audio and video content. Helix project, Helix Server being part of it, is intended as a largely free software/open source digital media framework that runs on numerous operating systems and processors (including mobile phones). There exists a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in RealNetworks Helix Server product. The vulnerability is caused due to an integer overflow when handling crafted Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) requests. A remote unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted DESCRIBE request to the vulnerable Helix server. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the running server, normally System. In an attack case where code injection is not successful, the vulnerable Helix server will terminate upon processing of the malicious message. If the Helix server is not configured to restart automatically, the service will be unavailable until the process is restarted manually. In a more sophisticated attack, where code injection is successful, the behavior of the target host is entirely dependent on the intended function of the injected code. The code in such a case would execute within the security context of the Helix server. On Windows systems, Helix server is normally executed with the SYSTEM account.

Protection Overview

This protection will detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.

In order for the protection to be activated, update your Security Gateway product to the latest IPS update. For information on how to update IPS, go to SBP-2006-05, click on Protection tab and select the version of your choice.

Security Gateway R80 / R77 / R75

In the IPS tab, click Protections and find the RealNetworks Helix Server DESCRIBE Request Buffer Overflow protection using the Search tool and Edit the protection's settings.
Install policy on all Security Gateways.

This protection's log will contain the following information:

Attack Name: Media Player Enforcement Violation.
Attack Information: RealNetworks Helix Server DESCRIBE request buffer overflow