Check Point Advisories

Microsoft Windows Help HLP File Processing Memory Corruption

Check Point Reference: CPAI-2006-236
Date Published: 11 Aug 2010
Severity: High
Last Updated: Sunday 14 February, 2016
Source:
Protection Provided by:

Security Gateway
R81, R80, R77, R75
Who is Vulnerable?
Vulnerability Description Microsoft Windows includes a standard Help system to assist the user working with applications. The WinHelp system, first introduced with Microsoft Windows 3.1, allows a developer to create a searchable document with a table of contents, images, hyper-links and other features. The developer may link Help topics with certain areas of an application, allowing for context-based assistance when the user demands it. WinHelp files are displayed using the Microsoft Windows Help Viewer, winhlp32.exe. The commonly used file extension for WinHelp files is .hlp. There exist a buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Help Viewer. The flaw is caused by insufficient validation of user supplied data in HLP files. An attacker may exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the currently logged in user. In an attack case where code injection is not successful, all instances of the vulnerable Microsoft Help Viewer application will terminate or stop responding. In a more sophisticated attack, where code injection is successful, the behaviour of the target system 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 current 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 Microsoft Windows Help HLP File Processing Memory Corruption 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:  Content Protection Violation.
Attack Information:  Microsoft Windows Help HLP File Processing Memory Corruption

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