Critical

Remote code execution in AOL SuperBuddy ActiveX LinkSBIcons()

IdentifiersCVE-2006-5820CWE-822

CVE-2006-5820 is a remote code execution vulnerability in the SuperBuddy ActiveX control (Sb.SuperBuddy.1) shipped with America Online 9.0 Security Edition. The vulnerable method, LinkSBIcons(), improperly validates its arguments and dereferences an attacker-controlled function pointer. By supplying a modified pointer value via a specially crafted web page or HTML document that instantiates the control, a remote attacker can trigger dereference of an arbitrary function pointer and execute code in the context of the hosting process.

For your environment

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user. In practical terms, this can result in full compromise of the user session, including malware installation or further post-exploitation activity available to that user context. Failed or partial exploitation may also crash Internet Explorer or the AOL browser, causing denial of service for the affected application.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If AOL is not required, disable the vulnerable SuperBuddy ActiveX control by setting the kill bit for CLSID {189504B8-50D1-4AA8-B4D6-95C8F58A6414}. Additionally, disable ActiveX controls in the Internet Zone, or in any browser security zone that could be used to render attacker-supplied content. Restricting or disabling use of Internet Explorer/AOL browser ActiveX execution reduces exposure.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the AOL automatic update for America Online 9.0 Security Edition by logging in to the AOL service so the corrected update is installed. Use the vendor-provided update rather than relying solely on compensating controls.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No valid public exploits. Mallory filtered out 1 candidate as fakes, detection scripts, or README-only repos.

VALID 0 / 1 TOTALView more in app

All candidate exploits were filtered out by Mallory's validation.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

AolAolapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

1 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

1 SOURCESView more in app

securelistNews

May 13, 2021

Bootkit: the challenge of 2008 | Securelist

One of the commonly used client-side vulnerabilities exploited by the attack infrastructure to deliver personalized exploits via malicious links.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware2

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity