Vulnerability Development mailing list archives
RE: GIFs Good, Flash Executable Bad [Was: Plain text files in internet explorer]
From: "Jason Coombs" <jasonc () science org>
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 19:28:55 -1000
Everything and anything can already carry viruses. The question is can they be told to execute? Most malicious bytes packed as .ZIP files will just look like bad .ZIP files to WinZip, just as malicious bytes packed as a .JPG will look just like a bad .JPG file to Internet Explorer. A virus packaged in a JPEG could help mount a successful heap overflow attack where the difficulty is figuring out how to get EIP to point at your malicious bytes, versus the more trivial difficulty of "where do you want EIP to go today?" as with simpler-to-launch stack overflow attacks. Sincerely, Jason Coombs jasonc () science org -----Original Message----- From: Roland Postle [mailto:mail () blazde co uk] Sent: Monday, September 02, 2002 7:54 AM To: vuln-dev () securityfocus com Subject: GIFs Good, Flash Executable Bad [Was: Plain text files in internet explorer]
GIFs can't exploit your system. Flash files can, just like any executable.
This myth that static data files such as gifs, jpegs and zip files /can't/ exploit your system really gets to me. Virus scanners continue to scan only 'active' content, but some applications are in such widespread use now that it's only a matter of time before a vulnerability in say, Winzip's file handling, is exploited in a virus that infects .zip files. Or a vulnerability in IE's jpeg module that allows jpegs to carry viruses. It's not 'just like any executable', but it's not automatically safe either. - Blazde
Current thread:
- RE: Plain text files in internet explorer, (continued)
- RE: Plain text files in internet explorer Alan Ramsbottom (Sep 01)
- RE: Plain text files in internet explorer Bernie Cosell (Sep 01)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Magnus Bodin (Sep 02)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Dan Kaminsky (Sep 02)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Philip Rowlands (Sep 02)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Dan Kaminsky (Sep 03)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Helmut Springer (Sep 03)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Marc Slemko (Sep 03)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Daniel Newby (Sep 04)
- RE: Plain text files in internet explorer Bernie Cosell (Sep 01)
- RE: Plain text files in internet explorer Alan Ramsbottom (Sep 01)
- GIFs Good, Flash Executable Bad [Was: Plain text files in internet explorer] Roland Postle (Sep 02)
- RE: GIFs Good, Flash Executable Bad [Was: Plain text files in internet explorer] Jason Coombs (Sep 03)
- Re: GIFs Good, Flash Executable Bad [Was: Plain text files in internet explorer] Gerhard den Hollander (Sep 03)
- RE: GIFs Good, Flash Executable Bad [Was: Plain text files in internet explorer] Dom De Vitto (Sep 03)
- Re: GIFs Good, Flash Executable Bad [Was: Plain text files in internet explorer] Blue Boar (Sep 03)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Bernie Cosell (Sep 02)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Eric Rostetter (Sep 03)
- Re: Plain text files in internet explorer Bill Weiss (Sep 02)