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Security Bulletin:  

Potential Security Risk with Macromedia E-Licensing Client 
Activation Code 
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Summary: 

Macintosh versions of the Macromedia installers and 
e-licensing client install a service whose file permissions 
allow "other" users to write to the file. This may allow one 
local user to obtain the permissions of another local user 
(including an admin user). This leads to a threat typically 
classified as “Privilege Escalation.” 

This potential vulnerability affects only products installed 
on machines with multiple users. Further, it does not appear 
to be a threat under typical installation of Macromedia 
products where the computer's only user is already considered 
the administrator.   

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Solution: 

A patch can be downloaded from the Macromedia website to 
protect users of current versions of Macromedia products:   

http://www.macromedia.com/go/DMJL_AAAZ 

Alternatively, a work-around is described in the "Making 
the Changes" section of this bulletin. 

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Affected Software Versions:  

All supported Macintosh versions of Macromedia MX 2004 
products as well as Contribute 2 may be affected. 

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Severity Rating: 

Macromedia categorizes this issue as a Moderate update 
(see http://www.macromedia.com/go/DMJL_AABA) and recommends 
that administrators of systems supporting multiple users 
apply the patch located at: 

http://www.macromedia.com/go/DMJL_AABB 

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Details:  

Macintosh OS X versions of the Macromedia installers and 
e-licensing client install the 'AuthenticationService' 
as an SUID service whose file permissions allow "other" 
users to write to the file. By default, these permissions 
allow the code in the service to be changed by any local 
user. In the event of modification by any non-admin user, 
the operating system removes the SUID property. 

The current behavior of Macromedia products using this 
service mitigates all known attack vectors. All current 
Macromedia products detect the file change, refuse to 
execute the modified service, and reinstall the original, 
unmodified binary. Therefore, a successful exploitation 
requires the attacker to cause another user to execute 
the service independent of any Macromedia product. 

If the AuthenticationService file is manually deleted, a 
reapplication of the patch may be required. 

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Making the Changes:  

With an admin account and password, permissions on the 
file can be manually changed to resolve this problem. 

Activate a Terminal session and type in the following 
command. 

sudo chmod 4775 "/Library/Application Support/Macrovision/ 
AuthenticationService"  

Enter your admin user password at the prompt and then 
the command will run and set the permissions on the file.

NOTE: Back up your existing files before making changes. 
As always, test the changes in a nonproduction environment 
before applying the changes to production servers. 

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Acknowledgements:  

Macromedia would like to thank Chris Irvine of Dark Horse 
Comics, Inc. for reporting this vulnerability and for 
working with us to help protect our customers' security. 

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Reporting Security Issues: 
 
Macromedia is committed to addressing security issues and 
providing customers with the information on how they can 
protect themselves. If you identify what you believe may 
be a security issue with a Macromedia product, please 
send an e-mail to secure@macromedia.com. We will work to 
appropriately address and communicate the issue. 

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Receiving Security Bulletins: 
 
When Macromedia becomes aware of a security issue that we 
believe significantly affects our products or customers, 
we will notify customers when appropriate. Typically this 
notification will be in the form of a security bulletin 
explaining the issue and the response. Macromedia customers 
who would like to receive notification of new security 
bulletins when they are released can sign up for our 
security notification service. 

For additional information on security issues at Macromedia, 
please visit: 

http://www.macromedia.com/security. 

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Macromedia reserves the right, from time to time, to update 
the information in this document with current information.  

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