January 14th, 2009

RIM warns of BlackBerry PDF processing vulnerabilities

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 7:48 am

Categories: Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Complex Attacks, Data theft, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploit code, Mobile (In)Security, Patch Watch, Pen testing, Vulnerability research

Tags: Research In Motion Ltd., Adobe PDF, Vulnerability, RIM BlackBerry, Handhelds, Hardware, Ryan Naraine

Hackers can use booby-trapped PDF attachments sent to BlackBerry devices to launch malicious code execution attacks, according to warnings issued by Research in Motion (RIM).

The company shipped patches this week to address a pair of critical vulnerabilities affecting its enterprise product line.

The vulnerabilities are due to the improper processing of PDF files within the Distiller component of the BlackBerry Attachment Service, RIM said.  Here are the raw details:

• KB17118: Multiple security vulnerabilities exist in the PDF distiller of some released versions of the BlackBerry Attachment Service. These vulnerabilities could enable a malicious individual to send an email message containing a specially crafted PDF file, which when opened for viewing on a BlackBerry smartphone, could cause memory corruption and possibly lead to arbitrary code execution on the computer that hosts the BlackBerry Attachment Service.  These vulnerabilities each have a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score of 9.3.
• KB17119: Multiple security vulnerabilities exist in the PDF distiller of some released versions of the BlackBerry Attachment Service. These vulnerabilities could enable a malicious individual to send an email message containing a specially crafted PDF file, which when opened for viewing on a BlackBerry smartphone, could cause memory corruption and possibly lead to arbitrary code execution on the computer that hosts the BlackBerry Attachment Service.  CVSS 9.3.   RIM recommends that users upgrade to the latest version of the BlackBerry Unite! software.

RIM customers are strongly urged to apply the updates or implement the workarounds listed in the documents to help mitigate the risk.* Image source: edans’ Flickr photostream (Creative Commons 2.0)