Sun has officially announced that it has fixed a highly critical
vulnerability in its Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The flaw was first
reported to Sun six months ago, but the public’s just finding out about it this week.
Sun ALERT 102760 has labeled the flaw as a security vulnerability in
processing GIF images in Java that could possibly allow an untrusted applet
to elevate privileges.
The flaw stems from a buffer overflow vulnerability in how Java processes
GIF images.
“For example, an applet may grant itself permissions to read and write local
files or execute local applications with the privileges of the user running
the untrusted applet,” Sun’s advisory warns.
Sun has identified that the flaw affects versions of the JRE running on
Windows, Solaris and Linux. The Sun advisory specifically notes that JDK and
JRE 5.0 Update 9 and earlier, DK and JRE 1.4.2_12 and earlier, and SDK and JRE
1.3.1_18 and earlier are vulnerable to the flaw.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the vulnerability is that there aren’t any specific symptoms to alert users that there has been an exploit, according to Sun. 3COM’s Tipping Point division issued an advisory that notes, however, that user interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability because the target
must visit a malicious Web site.
Tipping Point reported the flaw to Sun in June. There are no known public reports to date of the previously undisclosed vulnerability being exploited in the wild.
Co-coordinated public disclosure of the vulnerability occurred this week in
tandem with the release of updated versions of Java, which fixes the
vulnerability.
All affected versions have
now have been updated by Sun.