Vulnerability in Google Picasa Could Allow Remote Code Execution

Executive Summary

Microsoft is providing notification of the discovery and remediation of a vulnerability affecting Google Picasa for Windows version 3.6 build 105.61 and earlier. Microsoft discovered and disclosed the vulnerability under coordinated vulnerability disclosure to the affected vendor, Google Inc. Google Inc. has remediated the vulnerability in Picasa.

A vulnerability exists in the way that Picasa handles certain specially crafted JPEG images. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause Picasa to exit unexpectedly and execute arbitrary code. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

Microsoft Vulnerability Research reported this issue to and coordinated with Google Inc. to ensure remediation of this issue. The vulnerability has been assigned the entry, CVE-2011-2747, in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list. For more information, including information about Picasa updates from Google, see Google Picasa Release Notes.

Mitigating Factors

• The vulnerability cannot be exploited automatically through e-mail. For an attack to be successful, a user must open an attachment that is sent in an e-mail message.
• In a Web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a Web site that contains an image that is used to exploit this vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit the Web site and then download the image. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to visit the Web site, download the image, then open it with the affected software. This is typically achieved by getting them to click a link in an e-mail message or Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker’s Web site.
• An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
• Google Picasa has an auto-update feature that is enabled by default. Users who have not disabled this feature are automatically updated to a version that is no longer vulnerable to this issue. For more information, see Picasa Automatic and Manual Updates.