- Mythbuster busts his own tale
- 10 open source companies to watch
- Sony recalls 73,000 Vaio laptops
- Tool to evade China's Web censorship
- Chrome and Firefox and add-ons
Newsletters | Podcasts | Chats | Opinions | RSS Feeds | This Week In Print | IT Careers | Community | Reports | Downloads | Slideshows | New Data Center
Partner Sites:App Performance | On Demand Security | Networking Solution | SOA | Value of WDS
Danish security company Secunia has found a flaw in the VLC media player that could allow an attacker to gain control of someone's PC.
The problem, which Secunia ranks as "highly critical," affects version 0.8.6h on Windows. Secunia said in an advisory that version 0.8.6i should be released soon.
The flaw is an integer-overflow error, which can be exploited to cause a heap-based buffer overflow, a type of problem in how the program allocates memory. Secunia said it can be exploited by creating a specially-crafted ".WAV" sound file, which would the allow a hacker to run other code on the PC.
The VLC media player is a free, open-source program released under the GNU General Public License by the VideoLAN project. The player can handle video files in MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3 and OGG formats, among others.
The project also develops a streaming media server for several platforms. The VLC software has been download close to 90 million times, according to the project's Web site.
Secunia notified the VideoLAN project on June 30 and advised that until the update is released, users should be wary of untrusted ".WAV" files.

Gartner summarizes its view on Application Delivery Controllers, evaluates strengths and weaknesses...
Vulnerability Management For DummiesDownload this concise book "Vulnerability Management for Dummies," to learn about the simple steps...
The ROI and TCO Benefits of Data Deduplication for Data Protection in the EnterpriseThis paper examines and quantifies the costs and benefits of backup with deduplication storage as...

Life on the edge of your WAN has changed dramatically. With the need to deliver advanced services,...
PoE Plus: Impact on the PoE MarketThe standard for Power over Ethernet (PoE), IEEE Std. 802.3af(tm)-2003, advanced networking,...
Harnessing the power of communications to increase workplace performanceDue to the convergence of IT and telecommunications technologies, the business workplace has been...

We have so many holes punched in our firewalls today that many industry insiders question the value...
The self-managed networkWe aren't there yet, but advances in network and systems management tools are making it possible to...
Partner Content
Brilliantly simple security and control solutions for email, web and endpoint
www.sophos.com
Stopping data leakage
Learn how to exploit your current security investment to control the information that flows into, through and out of your network.
Download the white paper.
Why detection rates aren't enough
Evaluating endpoint security products is a time-consuming and daunting task. Learn the six critical questions you need to ask prospective vendors to get the right endpoint solution.
Download the white paper.
Applications: taking back control
Employees installing unauthorized applications is a growing threat to business security and productivity. Cost-effectively reduce this threat by integrating control into your malware protection.
Learn more today.
Comment