CVE-2020-36129

Vulnerability

A stack buffer overflow exists in the AOM (Alliance for Open Media) AV1 codec SDK, specifically in the file src/aom_image.c. The vulnerability affects AOM version 2.0.1 (also referred to as libaom 2.0.1). It arises from insufficient bounds checking when processing certain image data, leading to a stack-based buffer overflow. [1]

Exploitation

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by providing a specially crafted AV1 bitstream or image data to an application using the vulnerable library. No authentication is required if the attacker can deliver the malicious input over a network (e.g., via a web browser or media player). The overflow occurs during image decoding, potentially allowing control of the return address or other stack variables. [1]

Impact

Successful exploitation could lead to remote code execution (RCE) with the privileges of the process using the library. The worst-case impact is arbitrary code execution, as indicated by the Gentoo advisory. [1]

Mitigation

The vulnerability is fixed in libaom version 3.2.0 and later. Users should upgrade to at least this version. There is no known workaround. The Gentoo advisory (GLSA 202401-32) recommends upgrading via emerge --sync && emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=media-libs/libaom-3.2.0". [1]