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Single IPv6 packet kills Kaspersky-protected PCs, fix emerges

Windows PCs frozen to death by firewall bug

Kaspersky Lab has fixed a bug that could freeze PCs with Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 installed if they received a specially malformed IPv6 packet.

Earlier this week infosec bod Marc Heuse reported that sending a fragmented IPv6 network packet with multiple extension headers, one of which is unusually long, to a Windows computer with Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 installed will freeze up the machine completely. The Russian security biz confirmed the flaw, which it has fixed in its software, and apologised for the coding error.

In a statement, Kaspersky Lab stressed that the bug only crashed PCs, rather than creating a means to take control of them:

After receiving feedback from the researcher, Kaspersky Lab quickly fixed the error. A private patch is currently available on demand and an autopatch will soon be released to fix the problem automatically on every computer protected by Kaspersky Internet Security 2013.

Although Kaspersky Lab acknowledges the issue, it would like to stress that there was no threat of malicious activity affecting the PCs of any users who may have experienced this rare problem.

Kaspersky Lab would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. Actions have been taken to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.

In his advisory, Heuse revealed that the freeze flaw is not restricted to KIS 2013 but also affects any other Kaspersky products that bundle the same buggy firewall functionality.

Heuse said he only went public on Monday after failing to get a response from Kaspersky on the issue, which he first reported to the security firm in late January. ®

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