REDHAT-BUG-800604: High severity FreeType vulnerability

Published Mar 6, 2012

Updated

An out-of heap-based buffer write flaw was found in the way FreeType font rendering engine performed computation of advance width values for certain glyph outlines. A remote attacker could provide a specially-crafted TrueType font file, which once opened in an application linked against FreeType would lead to that application crash, or, potentially arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the application.

Upstream bug report: [1] https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?35659

Upstream patch: [2] http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/freetype/freetype2.git/commit/?id=7d35a7dc7cc621538a1f4a63c83ebf223aace0b0

Acknowledgements:

Red Hat would like to thank Mateusz Jurczyk of the Google Security Team for reporting this issue.

Affected Software

1 affected component

FreeType

Event History

Mar 6, 2012

Data Sourced

06:58 PM

DescriptionSeverityAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of REDHAT-BUG-800604?

The severity of REDHAT-BUG-800604 is categorized as high due to the potential for remote code execution.

How do I fix REDHAT-BUG-800604?

To fix REDHAT-BUG-800604, update your FreeType version to the latest patched release provided by your distribution.

What systems are affected by REDHAT-BUG-800604?

REDHAT-BUG-800604 affects applications linked against vulnerable versions of the FreeType font rendering engine.

What type of vulnerability is REDHAT-BUG-800604?

REDHAT-BUG-800604 is a heap-based buffer write flaw caused by incorrect handling of advance width values in certain TrueType fonts.

Can REDHAT-BUG-800604 be exploited remotely?

Yes, REDHAT-BUG-800604 can be exploited remotely by an attacker through specially-crafted TrueType font files.