Real Networks Realplayer 8 CPU Utilization Denial of Service Vulnerability

Real Networks Realplayer 8 CPU Utilization Denial of Service Vulnerability

RealPlayer is a media player for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris. It has been reported that it is possible to cause RealPlayer 8 for Windows to consume 100% of available CPU resources, leading to a potential denial of service condition.

Allegedly this condition can be caused by placing maliciously constructed data into a file named with the .mp3 extension. This file must then be referenced in a web page viewed through Internet Explorer, and the link followed by the vulnerable user. When the file is automatically opened in RealPlayer, it has been reported that the process will hang, consuming 100% of the available CPU resources. The process will have to be manually killed.

There have been conflicting reports about this vulnerability.