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/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 24 2017, @01:01AM (1 child)
is it a windows only attack? Me guesses probably
I am guessing not from the summary.... users of popular media players, including VLC, Kodi (XBMC), Popcorn Time and Stremio.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:13AM
Given that all of the listed projects are multiplatform and support Windows, it is impossible to say whether it only affects Windows, or all versions.
The fact that the same vulnerability exists in all those applications suggests that it is not in code written specifically for those projects, but in code used by all of them. This may be some platform-independent code, but it also may be platform-dependent code. In the former case, it probably affects all platform, while in the latter case it probably affects only one platform. Since the demonstration was on Windows, that single platform would then be Windows.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.