Corel Software DLL Hijacking

1. Advisory Information

Title: Corel Software DLL Hijacking
Advisory ID: CORE-2015-0001
Advisory URL: https://www.coresecurity.com/core-labs/advisories/corel-software-dll-hijacking
Date published: 2015-01-12
Date of last update: 2015-01-06
Vendors contacted: Corel
Release mode: User release

2. Vulnerability Information

Class: Uncontrolled Search Path Element [CWE-427]
Impact: Code execution
Remotely Exploitable: No
Locally Exploitable: Yes
CVE Name: CVE-2014-8393, CVE-2014-8394, CVE-2014-8395, CVE-2014-8396, CVE-2014-8397, CVE-2014-8398

 

3. Vulnerability Description

Corel [1] has developed a wide range of products that includes graphics, painting, photo, video and office software. (CorelDRAW,Corel Photo-Paint, Corel PaintShop Pro, Corel CAD, Corel Painter, Corel PDF Fusion, Corel VideoStudio and Corel FastFlick among others)

When a file associated with the Corel software is opened, the directory of that document is first used to locate DLLs, which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands by inserting malicious DLLs into the same directory as the document.

4. Vulnerable packages

  • Corel DRAW X7 [2]
  • Corel Photo-Paint X7 [3]
  • Corel PaintShop Pro X7 [7]
  • Corel CAD 2014 [4]
  • Corel Painter 2015 [5]
  • Corel PDF Fusion [6]
  • Corel VideoStudio PRO X7 [8]
  • Corel FastFlick [9]

Other versions could be affected too, but they were not checked.

5. Vendor Information, Solutions and Workarounds

Given that this is a client-side vulnerability, affected users should avoid opening untrusted files whose extensions are associated with Corel software and contain any of the DLL files detailed below.

6. Credits

This vulnerability was discovered and researched by Marcos Accossatto from Core Security Exploit Writers Team. The publication of this advisory was coordinated by Joaquin Rodriguez Varela from Core Advisories Team.

 

7. Technical Description / Proof of Concept Code

[CVE-2014-8393] This vulnerability is caused by a DLL Hijacking when a file associated with any of the following Corel applications is executed (CorelDRAW X7, Corel Photo-Paint X7, Corel PaintShop Pro X7, Corel Painter 2015 or Corel PDF Fusion). The affected application should not be running for the vulnerability to work. The Corel software looks for a DLL file called "wintab32.dll" and does not control its path, therefore allowing to copy a malicious DLL file with the same name inside the folder where the associated file is. The DLL is executed within the context of the application.

[CVE-2014-8394] This vulnerability is caused by a DLL Hijacking when a file associated with Corel CAD 2014 is executed. Corel CAD 2014 should not be running before the associated file is executed for the vulnerability to work. Corel CAD looks for a DLL file called "FxManagedCommands_3.08_9.tx" or "TD_Mgd_3.08_9.dll" and does not control their path, therefore allowing to copy a malicious DLL file with the same name of either DLL inside the folder where the associated file is. The DLL is executed within the context of the application.

[CVE-2014-8395] This vulnerability is caused by a DLL Hijacking when a file associated with Corel Painter 2015 is executed. Corel Painter 2015 should not be running before the associated file is executed for the vulnerability to work. Corel Painter looks for a DLL file called "wacommt.dll" and does not control its path, therefore allowing to copy a malicious DLL file with the same name inside the folder where the associated file is. The DLL is executed within the context of the application.

[CVE-2014-8396] This vulnerability is caused by a DLL Hijacking when a file associated with Corel PDF Fusion is executed. Corel PDF Fusion should not be running before the associated file is executed for the vulnerability to work. Corel PDF Fusion looks for a DLL file called "quserex.dll" and does not control its path, therefore allowing to copy a malicious DLL file with the same name inside the folder where the associated file is. The DLL is executed within the context of the application.

[CVE-2014-8397] This vulnerability is caused by a DLL Hijacking when a file associated with Corel VideoStudio PRO X7 or Corel FastFlix is executed. Corel Video Studio or Corel FastFlix should not be running before the associated file is executed for the vulnerability to work. Corel PDF Fusion looks for a DLL file called "u32ZLib.dll" and does not control its path, therefore allowing to copy a malicious DLL file with the same name inside the folder where the associated file is. The DLL is executed within the context of the application.

[CVE-2014-8398] This vulnerability is caused by a DLL Hijacking when a file associated with Corel FastFlick is executed. Corel FastFlick should not be running before the associated file is executed for the vulnerability to work. Corel FastFlick looks for DLL files called "igfxcmrt32.dll", "ipl.dll", "MSPStyleLib.dll", "uFioUtil.dll", "uhDSPlay.dll", "uipl.dll", "uvipl.dll", "VC1DecDll.dll" or "VC1DecDll_SSE3.dll" and does not control their path, therefore allowing to copy a malicious DLL file with the same name of any of those DLLs inside the folder where the associated file is. The DLL is executed within the context of the application.

 

8. Report Timeline

  • 2014-12-09: Core Security notifies Corel of the vulnerabilities. Publication date is set for January 5th, 2015.
  • 2014-12-17: Core Security requests an acknowledgement of the mail previously sent. Informs that if no answer is registered the advisory will be pubilshed as "user release".
  • 2015-01-02: Core Security tries to contact the vendor through their twitter account without any luck.
  • 2015-01-12: Advisory CORE-2015-0001 published.

9. References

[1] http://www.corel.com/.
[2] http://www.coreldraw.com/la/product/diseno-grafico-creativo/?hptrack=la2bb1.
[3] http://www.coreldraw.com/la/pages/photo-paint/.
[4] http://www.coreldraw.com/us/product/cad-software/.
[5] http://www.painterartist.com/us/product/paint-program/.
[6] http://www.wordperfect.com/us/product/pdf-creator/.
[7] http://learn.corel.com/photo/courses/course/PaintShop-Pro-X7-Tutorials.
[8] http://learn.corel.com/video/tutorials/view/232/What-s-New-in-Corel-VideoStudio-Pro-X7.
[9] http://learn.corel.com/video/tutorials/view/236/How-to-Use-FastFlick.

10. About CoreLabs

CoreLabs, the research center of Core Security, is charged with anticipating the future needs and requirements for information security technologies. We conduct our research in several important areas of computer security including system vulnerabilities, cyber attack planning and simulation, source code auditing, and cryptography. Our results include problem formalization, identification of vulnerabilities, novel solutions and prototypes for new technologies. CoreLabs regularly publishes security advisories, technical papers, project information and shared software tools for public use at: https://www.coresecurity.com/core-labs.

11. About Core Security

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Core Security's software solutions build on over a decade of trusted research and leading-edge threat expertise from the company's Security Consulting Services, CoreLabs and Engineering groups. Core Security can be reached at at: https://www.coresecurity.com.

12. Disclaimer

The contents of this advisory are copyright (c) 2014 Core Security and (c) 2014 CoreLabs, and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 (United States) License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

13. PGP/GPG Keys

This advisory has been signed with the GPG key of Core Security advisories team.