SEC Consult SA-20090707-0 :: Symbian S60 / Nokia firmware media codecs multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities

[Bernhard Mueller <research@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

SEC Consult Security Advisory < 20090707-0 >
==========================================================================
              title: Symbian S60 / Nokia firmware media codecs
                     multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities
 vulnerable version: All Nokia smartphones with multimedia capabilities
                     are likely vulnerable (tested on E61, E71, N96)
             impact: Critical
           homepage: http://www.nokia.com/
              found: May 2009
                 by: Bernhard Mueller / SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab
==========================================================================


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
fromuser 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:

https://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