Open Office patches six flaws

A new security update has been released for open source productivity suite OpenOffice.org.

The latest version of the suite includes fixes for six security vulnerabilities, four of which could potentially be exploited for arbitrary code execution. The other two flaws could potentially be used to bypass authentication protections.

OpenOffice.org said that the two authorisation flaws occurred in the libxml2 and libxmlsec components. The flaws left the two libraries unable to properly examine and authorise file signatures.

Among the four remote code execution flaws were vulnerabilities in the handling or XPM and GIF files. The organisation warned that attackers could potentially target vulnerable systems by embedding the attack files within ODF documents.

Another remote code flaw exists in the component used to load Microsoft Word files within OpenOffice.org. The organisation warned that attackers could target the flaw with specially-crafted Word documents.

Also addressed in the update is a fix for a remote code execution vulnerability in the MSVC Runtime component bundled with the suite. The organisation said that while OpenOffice.org itself was not vulnerable to attack, the component could be targeted through other applications.