OpenX Tips

Editor’s note: this is a post by guest blogger Erik Geurts

In recent weeks, many stories have been published about security issues regarding the OpenX Ad Server software. Please find below some additional information on the current situation regarding the security of the OpenX software.

The most recent and most severe issues all resulted from a security problem in a third party open source component named “Open Flash Charts 2″. This component is used in the Video Ads plugin that comes with OpenX v2.8.4 and higher. The problem has been corrected with the release of OpenX v2.8.7. Instead of performing a full upgrade, a much simpler task is to just upgrade the Video Ads plugin. If you run OpenX version 2.8.3, which doesn’t have the Video ads plugin, you will not be affected by this particular issue.

There is also a smaller but still significant issue in the OpenX core software. It affects all version of the OpenX v2.8 software, up to v2.8.5 and it is relatively easy to fix. The way to do that is outlined in an OpenX forum post. Applying this patch is not complicated, but it does require some skill in editing php software files.

You can find out which version of OpenX you have by looking at the source code of any page of your OpenX system, including the login page. The version number is displayed in line 4 of that source code.

To summarize the above:

• if you run OpenX v2.8.2 or older, an upgrade to version 2.8.3 would be recommended, including a patch for the security issue that was discovered in August.
• if you run OpenX v2.8.3, applying the security patch that was published in August should be sufficient.
• if you run OpenX v2.8.4 or higher, it would be smart to upgrade the Video Ads plugin, and apply the patch for the security issue, or to upgrade to OpenX v2.8.7.

Editor’s note: this is a post by guest blogger Erik Geurts

A new version of the OpenX Ad Server software has been released. This version 2.8.7 fixes a very serious security issue. According to the announcement on the OpenX blog:

there is a vulnerability in the 2.8 downloadable version of OpenX that can result in a server running the downloaded version of OpenX being compromised.

The issue stems from the Video Ads plugin for OpenX, which in turn uses an open source third party component called Open Flash Charts (OFC) to display graphs about video ad performance. There was a security issue with OFC which has now been fixed.

In addition, the upgrade notification inside the OpenX management pages has this information:

If you recently upgraded to version 2.8.6, you can simply install an upgraded video ad plug-in available [here] or remove the following file: admin/plugins/videoReport/lib/ofc2/ofc_upload_image.php from your installation.

This is the second update in less than 1 week, which might sound alarming. On the other hand, there will always be bugs and security vulnerabilities in software, and it’s better to have those fixed.

Besides this fix for the security issue that was uncovered, there is also a seemingly small functional change in this new version:

For users in the UK, all market interfaces now reflect your participation in Orange Ad Market, and all Orange Ad Market market monetary values are in GBP.

Since both the OpenX main website and the OpenX blog appear to be down at the time I’m writing this, I can’t give you any more information than what I included above.

What does still seem to work at the moment is the download link at http://download.openx.org/openx-2.8.7.zip.

The team at AdserverPlugins.com is releasing an update of the free Statistics as Graphs plugin for the OpenX Ad Server. This version 1.0.3 is available for download right now.

This is a security fix release that takes care of one issue:

• A vulnerability has been discovered in the third-party open source graphing component Open Flash Charts that is used by this plugin to draw the graphs.

As always with security fix releases, it is crucial to upgrade to the newest version as soon as possible.

OpenX have announced a security vulnerability in version 2.8.2 of the OpenX ad server.

If you are running OpenX 2.8.2, you should immediately update to OpenX 2.8.3, or follow the instructions from OpenX, to remove the vulnerable files from your OpenX ad server installation.

OpenX 2.8.2 was released a while ago now, and the release notes stated that:

We have completed a number of critical security updates to the ad server in OpenX 2.8.2 to reduce any potential vulnerabilities in the software.

However, it seems that the situation is more serious that this – in the past week, an actual remote code execution vulnerability has been announced as being in OpenX 2.8.1 and earlier.

Admittedly, based on the vulnerability report, it would appear that this remote code execution can only be executed if you (or someone with access to your OpenX installation) upload an image banner with a .php file name extension that contains embedded PHP code. If you are careful about what you upload as banners into your OpenX installation, it seems unlikely that you would be vulnerable.

Still, if you have not yet upgraded to the latest version of OpenX, you would be wise to consider doing so!