Two Visio Code Execution Vulnerabilities

Severity: Medium

8 February, 2011

Summary:

• This vulnerability affects: Visio 2002, 2003, and 2007 (not 2010)
• How an attacker exploits it: By enticing one of your users into opening a maliciously crafted Visio document
• Impact: An attacker can execute code, potentially gaining complete control of your users’ computers
• What to do: Deploy the appropriate Visio patch as soon as possible, or let Windows Update do it for you

Exposure:

Microsoft Visio is a very popular diagramming application, which many administrators use to create network diagrams.

In a security bulletin released today, Microsoft describes two security vulnerabilities that affect all current versions of Visio (but not the standalone viewer application). Though technically different, both vulnerabilities share the same scope and impact: By enticing one of your users into downloading and opening a maliciously crafted Visio document, an attacker can exploit any of these vulnerabilities to execute code on a victim’s computer, usually inheriting that user’s level of privileges and permissions. If your user has local administrative privileges, the attacker gains full control of the user’s machine.

Solution Path:

Microsoft has released patches to fix these vulnerabilities. You should download, test, and deploy the appropriate Visio patch as soon as possible, or let Windows Update do it for you.

• Visio 2002
• Visio 2003
• Visio 2007

For All WatchGuard Users:

If the practice fits your business environment, you can use the HTTP, SMTP, and/or POP3 proxies to block Visio documents with the .VSD extension. However, using this method blocks all such files, both malicious and legitimate. If you would like to use our proxies to block Visio documents, follow the links below for instructions:

• Firebox X Edge running 10.x
  • How do I block files with the FTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the HTTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the POP3 proxy?
  • How do I block files with the SMTP proxy

• Firebox X Core and X Peak running Fireware 10.x
  • How do I block files with the FTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the HTTP proxy?
  • How do I block files with the POP3 proxy?
  • How do I block files with the SMTP proxy?

Status:

Microsoft has released patches to fix these vulnerabilities.

References:

• MS Security Bulletin MS11-008

This alert was researched and written by Corey Nachreiner, CISSP.

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