Using Windows Media Player to play offline videos: Security RISK?

Using Windows Media Player to play offline videos: Security RISK?

by Frankie Kam -
Number of replies: 1
Picture of Plugin developers

Hi. I'd like to share an idea and code with other Moodlers.

How to play an offline video from a Moodle site in tandem with an online video like Youtube or Blip.tv. The advantage of this is the user has a choice of playing streaming video direct from the Internet or direct from the local hard disk.

My main worry is whether or not my implementation will cause any major security problems for the Moodle site. Will my Moodle site or local hard disk be heavily compromised? If so, what can I do to plug any security risks?

Here's my code. You can create a web page  resource and just copy and paste the code in. My local video plays from the c:\videos folder(!). You can change the text introduceaskdotcom.wmv into some other video file name. Create a folder named videos in your PC's root C drive.  Copy your video file into the folder and then test your moodle webpage link.


<p><span style="font-family: comic sans ms;" face="comic sans ms"> </span></p> <center><span style="font-family: comic sans ms;" face="comic sans ms"><center>
<h1>Video: Introducing Yourself</h1></center>
<table border="1" width="100%"><tbody>
<tr>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="450" valign="top"><br /> <center>
<h2> Local Video</h2> </center>
</td>
<td width="*" valign="top"><br /> <center>
<h2> Online Video</h2></center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="450" valign="top"><br /> <center> <embed height="344" width="425" quality="low" src="C:\videos\introduceaskdotcom.wmv" controls="[object NPObject JS wrapper class]" autostart="false" /></center>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td width="*" valign="top"><br /> <center>
<object height="344" width="425"> <param name="movie" value="

;" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="quality" value="low" />
<embed height="344" width="425" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AA6f7kf4fto&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" quality="low" />
</object></center>
</td>
</tr></tbody>
</table><b><br /></b></span></center><br />

Any comments on this will be greatly appreciated.

Frankie Kam
htp://scm.moodleace.com

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Frankie Kam

Re: Using Windows Media Player to play offline videos: Security RISK?

by Frankie Kam -
Picture of Plugin developers

I forgot to add that the code has been tested on Moodle 1.9.7 / 1.9.8 running on Mozilla Firefox 3.6 with the Windows Media Plugin for Firefox. Yea! wink
I've tested it under Moodle 2.0.2, but unfortunately, the local video fails to load.
Whoa! sad Anyway just thought you might want to know.

Frankie Kam
Melaka, Malaysia