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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the targeting-the-hard-of-hearing dept.

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Check Point researchers revealed a new attack vector threatening millions of users of popular media players, including VLC, Kodi (XBMC), Popcorn Time and Stremio. By crafting malicious subtitle files for films and TV programmes, which are then downloaded by viewers, attackers can potentially take complete control of any device running the vulnerable platforms.

"The supply chain for subtitles is complex, with over 25 different subtitle formats in use, all with unique features and capabilities. This fragmented ecosystem, along with limited security, means there are multiple vulnerabilities that could be exploited, making it a hugely attractive target for attackers," said Omri Herscovici, vulnerability research team leader at Check Point.

The subtitles for films or TV shows are created by a wide range of subtitle writers, and uploaded to shared online repositories, such as OpenSubtitles.org, where they are indexed and ranked. Researchers also demonstrated that by manipulating the repositories' ranking algorithm, malicious subtitles can be automatically downloaded by the media player, allowing a hacker to take complete control over the entire subtitle supply chain without user interaction.

Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2017/05/23/subtitle-hack/


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  • (Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Wednesday May 24 2017, @12:00AM (3 children)

    by el_oscuro (1711) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @12:00AM (#514592)

    He never said that. Just "Bite my shiny metal ass!". And how did you get that cool ASCII art past the lameness filter?

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  • (Score: 2) by sgleysti on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:37AM

    by sgleysti (56) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:37AM (#514637)

    And how did you get that cool ASCII art past the lameness filter?

    It's a question that almost answers itself: The lameness filter could obviously tell that his cool ASCII art wasn't lame.

  • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:18PM

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:18PM (#514815) Journal

    He did, sort of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qBlPa-9v_M [youtube.com]

    And it's called ecode tags.

  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:58PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @02:58PM (#514832)
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