Out-of-Bounds Write in HWP File Filter
Version 2.0
Announced April 27, 2015
Updated October 28, 2015
A vulnerability in OpenOffice's HWP filter allows attackers to craft malicious documents that cause denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) and possible execution of arbitrary code.
Severity: Important
Vendor: The Apache Software Foundation
Versions Affected
All Apache OpenOffice versions 4.1.1 and older are affected.
OpenOffice.org versions are also affected.
Mitigation
Update to Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2 or a later version.
This mitigation drops Apache OpenOffice support for documents created in "Hangul Word Processor" format. The filter is not installed; it will not be used if present.
Workarounds and Document Migration
Users of older HWP-format documents that are already trusted should convert those documents to other formats before removing the filter or upgrading to Apache OpenOffice version 4.1.2.
Apache OpenOffice users who do not upgrade can remove the problematic filter themselves. The filter is in the "program" folder of their OpenOffice installation. On Windows the filter is named "hwp.dll", on Mac OS X it is named "libhwp.dylib" and on Linux it is named "libhwp.so". Alternatively the filter can be renamed to anything else (e.g. "hwp_renamed.dll") to disable its use.
Further Information
For additional information and assistance, consult the Apache OpenOffice Community Forums or make requests to the users@openoffice.apache.org public mailing list.
Credits
Thanks to an anonymous contributor working with VeriSign iDefense Labs.
