Re: 2 vulnerabilities combine to auto execute received files in Nokia series 60 OSFrom: Anders Langworthy <hades () psilanthropy org> Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 14:17:55 -0600
Paul Kurczaba wrote:
Wouldn't the phone try to open the jpg file as a picture, and not execute
it. Just like on desktop PCs: if you rename a .exe (application/program) to
a jpg (picture file), and try to open the file, your image program will open
the file, thinking it is a image file. The application code will not be
executed.
Ideally, yes. But as demonstrated by the Microsoft GDI exploit, just
because a file is not executed proper doesn't necessarily mean it's safe
from problems in the underlying application.
I'd still say that this isn't really a problem directly (after all, it's
considered "safe" to view a webpage with images that are loaded without
prompting), but the fact that attachments are automagically loaded does
provide a spectacular way to automatically infect a large amount of
phones if somebody were to come up with a way to payload an attachment.