SEC Consult Security Advisory < 20090707-0 >
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title: Symbian S60 / Nokia firmware media codecs
multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities
vulnerable version: All Nokia smartphones with multimedia capabilities
Tested on E61, E71, N96
impact: Critical
homepage: www.nokia.com
found: May 2009
by: Bernhard Mueller / SEC Consult / www.sec-consult.com
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Vulnerability overview:
-----------------------
Multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities have been identified in multimedia
codecs used by the RealPlayer and MMS viewer on Nokia's Symbian/S60 based
smartphones. An attacker could leverage these bugs to gain control of the
program counter register and execute arbitrary code on a target smartphone.
The bugs can be triggered directly inside the MMS viewer of the target,
by sending an MMS with an embedded video file.
Vulnerability description:
--------------------------
This advisory describes multiple bugs found within several libraries:
* rarender.dll
* STH264HWDecHwDevice.dll
* clntcore.dll
* HxMmfCtrl.dll
* mdfh264payloadformat.dll
* MMFDevSound.dll
* ArmRV89Codec.dll
The effects that can be triggered with manipulated video files range from
user panic exceptions to exploitable data abort conditions that can be
used to indirectly influence function pointers and gain control of the
exploited process. A more detailed analysis, as well as the testing approach
used to identifiy the vulnerabilities, can be found in the whitepaper
"From 0 to 0day in Symbian" available at:
www.sec-consult.com/files/Pwning_Nokia_V1.03_PUB.pdf
Proof of concept:
-----------------
SEC Consult will not release a full proof of concept exploit to the public.
Vulnerable versions:
--------------------
All Nokia / Symbian S60 smartphones with RealPlayer are likely vulnerable.
The test and debugging subject was a Nokia N96 smartphone with firmware version
11.018. The resulting files were also sent to a Nokia E61i and a Nokia E71 and
crashed either the MMS application or the operating system.
Vendor contact timeline:
------------------------
2008-06-13: Full fuzzing results sent to Nokia
2009-06-30: Whitepaper sent to Nokia
2009-07-06: Limited public release
Patch:
------
No patch is available at the time of this writing.
Workaround:
-----------
From an end user perspective, security best practices should be applied that
are similar to those required on desktop PCs. The following list contains some
of the most important guidelines:
.
* Perform regular software updates
* Do not install unnecessary applications and services
* Use Anti Virus software
* Take care when browsing the web
* Do not open SMS, MMS or emails from unknown sources25
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EOF Bernhard Mueller / @2009