Apple Patches Quicktime

April 2008

Apple Inc. patched QuickTime late Wednesday to fix 11 flaws in the Mac and Windows versions of the media player. All but two of the bugs could be used by hackers to hijack users’ machines. QuickTime 7.4.5 – the third security update Apple has released for the program so far in 2008 – plugs vulnerabilities in how the player handles Java and PICT image files, parses some data objects, and uses Animation codec content, among others. Nine bugs patched Wednesday were characterized by Apple as allowing “arbitrary code execution,” a phrase the company uses to describe the most serious threats. Unlike other vendors such as Microsoft Corp. or Oracle Corp., Apple does not rank the bugs it fixes with a scoring or labeling system. Many of the vulnerabilities can be exploited if attackers are able to trick users into visiting malicious Web sites or open rigged files. Of those in the second category, Apple warned that some of the bugs could be triggered by malicious movie or PICT files. One flaw and possible attack vector was explained by Apple this way: “A memory corruption issue exists in QuickTime’s handling of movie media tracks. Viewing a maliciously crafted movie file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution,” the company said. Three of the vulnerabilities affect the Windows version of QuickTime only; the remaining eight exist in both the Mac and Windows editions, Apple said in the notes it released along with the patched program.