Check Point Advisories

Apple Mac OS X iChat AIM URL Format String (CVE-2007-0021)

Check Point Reference: CPAI-2007-226
Date Published: 5 Oct 2009
Severity: High
Last Updated: Sunday 23 February, 2014
Source:
Industry Reference:CVE-2007-0021
Protection Provided by:

Security Gateway
R81, R80, R77, R75
Who is Vulnerable?
Vulnerability Description Apple Computer Mac OS X is the operating system shipped with Apple Macintosh computers. The product bundles numerous Internet applications such as web browser, email client, instant messenger, etc. Apple iChat is a multi-protocol instant messaging application that supports AIM and Jabber services. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) allows users to communicate instantly through text to their "buddies" (or bots such as SmarterChild, ZolaOnAOL, AOLSafetyBot) around the world, provided that they have the AIM software. There exists a format string vulnerability in the Apple iChat product. The flaw is due to improper handling of AIM URLs. This vulnerability can be exploited by persuading a victim to follow a specially-crafted AIM URL containing format string specifiers. Successful exploitation of this issue causes a denial of service condition and allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code in the context of the application. In an attack case where code injection is not successful, the affected application will terminate abnormally. In a more sophisticated attack where code injection is successful, the behaviour of the target 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 currently logged in user.

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

  1. In the IPS tab, click Protections and find the Apple Mac OS X iChat AIM URL Format String protection using the Search tool and Edit the protection's settings.
  2. Install policy on all Security Gateways.

This protection's log will contain the following information:

Attack Name:  Instant Messenger.
Attack Information:  Apple Mac OS X iChat AIM URL format string

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