Zero-day vulnerability in Windows Media Center

Arbitrary code execution
CVE-2015-2509

This vulnerability is related to a previously unreported zero-day exploit discovered in the Hacking Team leaked emails. Trend Micro researchers (Aaron Luo, Kenney Lu, and Ziv Chang) discovered the exploit and subsequently reported their findings to Microsoft.

Vulnerability details

Advisory: SB2015090803 - Remote code execution in Microsoft Windows Media Center

Vulnerable component: Windows Media Center

CVE-ID: CVE-2015-2509

CVSSv3 score: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

CWE-ID: CWE-20 - Improper input validation

Description:

The vulnerability allows a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due to improper handling of Media Center link (.mcl) files. A remote attacker can create a specially crafted Media Center link (.mcl) file that references malicious code, trick the victim into opening it and execute arbitrary code with privileges of the current user.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability results in system compromise.

Note: the vulnerability was being actively exploited.

Public Exploits:

- Microsoft Windows Media Center - Command Execution (MS15-100) [Exploit-DB]

- Microsoft Windows Media Center - MCL Exploit (MS15-100) (Metasploit) [Exploit-DB]

External links:

https://www2.trustwave.com/rs/815-RFM-693/images/2016%20Trustwave%20Global%20Security%20Report.pdf
http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/windows-media-center-hacking-team-bug-fix...
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/ms15-100
http://www.cio.com/article/2982358/microsoft-patches-yet-another-hacking-team-zero-day-exploit.html
http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/windows-media-center-hacking-team-bug-fix...
http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/exploiting-ms15-100-cve-2015-2509/#gref
http://www.csoonline.com/article/2982487/vulnerabilities/microsoft-patches-yet-another-hacking-team-...
http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/40019/hacking/windows-media-center-ht-bug.html
https://vulners.com/metasploit/MSF:EXPLOIT/WINDOWS/FILEFORMAT/MS15_100_MCL_EXE
https://www.symantec.com/security_response/vulnerability.jsp?bid=76594
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2982361/microsoft-patches-yet-another-hacking-team-zero-day-exploit.h...

About zero-day vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerability is an undisclosed vulnerability in software that hackers can exploit to compromise computer programs, gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, penetrate networks, etc. We consider vulnerability a zero-day when there is no solution provided from software vendor and the vulnerability is being actively exploited by malicious actors.

Zero-day candidate is a potential zero-day vulnerability in software which might have been used in targeted attacks, however there is no evidence to support this suggestion.