iDefense Security Advisory 02.08.11: Adobe Shockwave Player Memory Corruption Vulnerability

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iDefense Security Advisory 02.08.11
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/
Feb 08, 2011

I. BACKGROUND

Adobe Shockwave Player is a popular Web browser plug-in. It is available
for multiple Web browsers and platforms, including Windows, and MacOS.
Shockwave Player enables Web browsers to display rich multimedia
content in the form of Shockwave videos. For more information, see the
vendor's site found at the following link:

http://get.adobe.com/shockwave

II. DESCRIPTION

Remote exploitation of a memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe
Systems Inc.'s Shockwave Player could allow an attacker to execute
arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user.

The vulnerability takes place during the processing of a malicious Adobe
Director file. A malicious user could cause a memory corruption by
including malformed data in a chunk. This condition may lead to
arbitrary code execution.

III. ANALYSIS

Exploitation could result in the execution of arbitrary code with the
privileges of the user viewing the Web page. To exploit this
vulnerability, a targeted user must load a malicious Adobe Director
file created by an attacker. An attacker typically accomplishes this
via social engineering or injecting content into a compromised, trusted
site.

IV. DETECTION

iDefense has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability in Shockwave
Player version 11.5.8.612 and version 11.5.9.615 (the latest version at
the time of testing). A full list of vulnerable Adobe products can be
found in Adobe Security Bulletin APSB11-01.

V. WORKAROUND

The killbit for the Shockwave Player ActiveX control can be set by
creating the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{233C1507-6A77-46A4-9443-F871F945D258}

Under this key create a new DWORD value called "Compatibility Flags" and
set its hexadecimal value to 400.

To re-enable Shockwave Player set the "Compatibility Flags" value to 0.

VI. VENDOR RESPONSE

Adobe has addressed this issue with an update. Further details and
patches can be found at the following URL.

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb11-01.html

VII. CVE INFORMATION

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
name CVE-2010-4187 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in
the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for
security problems.

VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE

11/03/2010  Initial Vendor Notification
11/03/2010  Initial Vendor Reply
02/08/2011  Coordinated Public Disclosure

IX. CREDIT

This vulnerability was reported to iDefense by Andrzej Dyjak.

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X. LEGAL NOTICES

Copyright © 2011 iDefense, Inc.

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Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate
at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use
of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition.
 There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the
author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct,
indirect, or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or
reliance on, this information.