Vulnerabilities in QNAP, Ffmpeg and VLC
The Secunia security firm has found multiple vulnerabilities in the popular ffmpeg multimedia framework that is the basis for most Linux media players.
Numerous cases of heap memory corruption and null pointer dereferences can allow specially prepared media files to execute malicious code on target systems. Secunia confirmed the vulnerability in the popular ffmpeg version 0.5. The advisory also confirms that some of the security holes have been fixed in the SVN repository and the remainder should be closed immediately.
The VideoLAN Client (VLC) project has meanwhile released version 1.0.2, which fixes a number of stack overflow problems in the AVI, MP4 and ASF demuxers that also allowed specially prepared media files to execute malicious code. Affected were all VideoLAN versions back to 0.5.0, so that the update is recommended for all users. VLC also uses the ffmpeg framework, although it's not clear whether the vulnerabilities correspond to those reported by Secunia. The descriptions are nonetheless very similar.
Even QNAP, the popular maker of NAS hard disks, faces some security issues. As is reported, a secondary key is added to the hard disk encryption and stored in flash memory with insufficient obfuscation, thus enabling an attacker physical or network access to unlock and reproduce the hard disk contents. Especially precarious for a product calling itself secure storage is the presence of what by all appearances is a back door with a weakly protected and nonsensical key. QNAP was informed of the problem and promises a firmware update fix in October.
Issue 200/2017
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
Trojan Turns Raspberry Pi into a Cryptocurrency Mining Device
Two trojans in the wild are targeting Linux machines.
-
Fedora 26 Beta Comes with New Features
The workstation comes with the latest Gnome desktop environment and support for many application build systems.
-
Raspberry Pi Foundation Merges with CoderDojo Foundation
The two foundations join forces to expand their efforts to reach young people.
-
Samba Security Hole Patched but Risk is Bigger
Millions of devices that use Samba Server are vulnerable to attacks.
-
Red Hat Announces OpenShift.io
Red Hat takes its IDE online.
-
Microsoft Bakes Linux into Windows Server
Microsoft is slowly becoming a Linux vendor.
-
Fearless Coyote, Linux Kernel 4.11 is Out
The new kernel makes swap implementation more scalable, which will help cloud providers.
-
Docker Appoints Steve Singh CEO
The new CEO comes from a very strong SaaS background.
-
Docker Announces Linux Kit and Moby Project
Both projects help organizations build their own containerized systems.
-
Ubuntu Returns to Gnome as Its Mobile Plans Shatter
Mark Shuttleworth has resumed the position of CEO of Canonical.