computer vulnerability bulletin CVE-2012-1661

ESRI ArcGIS: macro execution via MXD

Synthesis of the vulnerability

An attacker can invite the victim to open a malicious MXD file with ArcGIS, in order to execute a Visual Basic macro on his computer.
Severity of this threat: 3/4.
Creation date: 14/06/2012.
Références of this weakness: 40384, BID-53988, CVE-2012-1661, VIGILANCE-VUL-11708.
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Description of the vulnerability

The ArcMap (ArcGIS for Desktop) software creates geographic files with the extension MXD.

These files can contain Visual Basic macros. However, when a document is opened, and if VBA was installed, these macros are executed without asking the user.

An attacker can therefore invite the victim to open a malicious MXD file with ArcGIS, in order to execute a Visual Basic macro on his computer.
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This vulnerability bulletin impacts software or systems such as ArcGIS ArcView, ArcGIS for Desktop.

Our Vigil@nce team determined that the severity of this security note is important.

The trust level is of type confirmed by the editor, with an origin of document.

A proof of concept or an attack tool is available, so your teams have to process this alert. An attacker with a technician ability can exploit this cybersecurity note.

Solutions for this threat

ESRI ArcGIS Desktop: workaround for VBA.
A workaround is to disable or block VBA:
http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/40384
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