A security flaw in a widely-used open-source data
compression technology could put users at risk of
attack.
Security research company Secunia said a buffer overflow
vulnerability exists in the open-source “zlib” standard.
Using malicious code an attacker could take control of a user’s
PC if it uses the compression technology.
Zlib is used in a variety of open-source and proprietary
software applications, including Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Office,
MSN Messenger, and Internet Explorer.
Microsoft said up-to-date versions of its software did not
appear to be affected, and patches for the likes of SUSE Linux, Red
Hat and Debian already exist.
The flaw is said to affect version 1.2.2 of zlib, and its
creators are already working on an update which will not be
vulnerable to the buffer overflow flaw.
