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Do you use VLC Media Player? Be Careful

2 days ago TorrentFreak published a post stating that VLC Player might be vulnerable to Remote Hijack which means that if you are one of the users who use VLC player then it is most likely that a 3rd party hacker can take control of your machine while sitting on another machine.

Many users have a liking for VLC Media Player, also known as VideoLAN player, as it can nearly play any possible media file format without the need of extra addons or plugins. It is open-source and that is probably how a hacker must have discovered the security loop hole.

The hole gets exploited from a subtitle file buffer overflow (which means that users who use subtitle files are vulnerable to remote attacks while the ones who avoid subtitle files are safe and secure). The other security hole is platform independant i.e. VLC Player users on both Mac and Windows are vulnerable. To make sure your PC is secure from remote attacks, use the nightly builds or just uninstall it until a security update is provided.

Comments

I used to use VLC, but it ended up just being too bloated for me, so I stopped using it. It’s a great “all-in-one” player, but it needs to slim down.

On top of that, with this security thread, I’m pretty glad I don’t use it anymore.

Linker009

My school uses VLC media player, and in language classes they have english subtitles on… im guessing that teachers never read these kinds of sites or torrenthack, so they wont know that theres a security bug, i wonder if it will bug the schools computers :\ haha :D

I like that player! still using it! but I hate it’s interface!

oo man thats scary i am using it from a year never knew my pc was in danger. will keep the safe side now :(

MC

So a video with subtitles in it is vulnerable? Uh oh, anime…

  1. Sizlopedia Tech Talk (March 2008)

    Apr 1, 2008

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