Download Vmware Player 2.0.5 build 109488

Vmware released a new version of Vmware Player a few days ago with version number 2.0.5 build 109488. It allows to run virtual machines created with Vmware Workstation, Server or ESX Server. Virtual PC virtual machines and Symantec LiveState Recovery disks are also supported. In addition, various pre-installed virtual machines can be accessed via this page are being brought in, such as Fedora 9, Ubuntu 8.04 and OpenSUSE 11.0. The included announcement looks like this:

VMware Player 2.0.5

Player 2.0.5 addresses the following security issues:

• Setting ActiveX kill bit
  Starting from this release, VMware has set the killbit on its ActiveX controls. Setting the killbit ensures that ActiveX controls cannot run in Internet Explorer (IE), and avoids security issues involving ActiveX controls in IE. See the KB article 240797 available from Microsoft and the related references on this topic. Security vulnerabilities have been reported for ActiveX controls provided by VMware when run in IE. Under specific circumstances, exploitation of these ActiveX controls might result in denial-of-service or allow running of arbitrary code when the user browses a malicious Web site or opens a malicious file in IE browser. An attempt to run unsafe ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer might result in pop-up windows warning the user. Note: IE can be configured to run unsafe ActiveX controls without prompting. VMware recommends that you retain the default settings in IE, which prompts when unsafe actions are requested. Earlier, VMware had issued knowledge base articles, KB 5965318 and KB 9078920 on security issues with ActiveX controls. To avoid malicious scripts that exploit ActiveX controls, do not enable unsafe ActiveX objects in your browser settings. As a best practice, do not browse untrusted Web sites as an administrator and do not click OK or Yes if prompted by IE to allow certain actions. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures has assigned the names CVE-2008-3691, CVE-2008-3692, CVE-2008-3693, CVE-2008-3694, CVE-2008-3695, CVE-2007-5438, and CVE-2008- 3696 to the security issues with VMware ActiveX controls.
• Update to FreeType
  FreeType 2.3.6 resolves an integer overflow vulnerability and other vulnerabilities that can allow malicious users to run arbitrary code or might cause a denial-of-service after reading a maliciously crafted file. This release updates FreeType to its latest version 2.3.7. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures has assigned the names CVE-2008-1806, CVE-2008-1807, and CVE-2008-1808 to the issues resolved in FreeType 2.3.6.
• Update to Cairo
  Cairo 1.4.12 resolves an integer overflow vulnerability that can allow malicious users to run arbitrary code or might cause a denial-of-service after reading a maliciously crafted PNG file. This release updates Cairo to its latest version 1.4.14. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures has assigned the name CVE-2007-5503 to the issue resolved in Cairo 1.4.12.

VMware Player 2.0.4

Player 2.0.4 addresses the following security issues:

• On Windows hosts, if VMCI is enabled, a guest can run arbitrary code in the context of the vmx process on the host. This is a compiler dependent vulnerability. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures assigned the CVE number CVE-2008-2099 to this issue.
• A security vulnerability related to the host-guest file system (HGFS) might cause a buffer overflow. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures assigned the CVE number CVE-2008-2098 to this issue.