CVE-2003-0133 in GtkHTML
Summary
by MITRE
GtkHTML, as included in Evolution before 1.2.4, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via certain malformed messages.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/30/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-0133 affects GtkHTML, a web rendering engine component that was integrated into the Evolution email client prior to version 1.2.4. This flaw represents a classic buffer overflow or input validation issue that occurs when processing malformed email messages containing specially crafted HTML content. The vulnerability specifically targets the way GtkHTML handles certain malformed HTML structures within email communications, creating a condition where an attacker can trigger an application crash through remote message delivery. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of software quality assurance failures, where insufficient input sanitization leads to unexpected application behavior.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate parsing and validation mechanisms within the GtkHTML rendering engine. When Evolution processes incoming email messages containing malformed HTML content, the GtkHTML component fails to properly validate the structure and content of the HTML elements. This validation failure can lead to memory corruption or stack overflow conditions that cause the application to terminate unexpectedly. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the message processing level, meaning that simply receiving an email message from an attacker can trigger the crash condition without requiring any user interaction or specific actions beyond normal email reception.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables remote attackers to perform denial of service attacks against users of affected Evolution versions. The attack vector is particularly dangerous as it requires no special privileges or user interaction beyond receiving an email message. The crash occurs during the normal processing of email content, making it difficult to distinguish between legitimate and malicious messages. This vulnerability can be exploited to disrupt email services, particularly in environments where Evolution is the primary email client. The impact extends beyond individual user inconvenience to potential organizational disruption, especially in corporate environments where email availability is critical for business operations.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions that can occur when processing malformed input data, and CWE-20, which covers input validation issues. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability would map to the ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which involves network denial of service attacks, and potentially T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter usage in crafting the malicious email content. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input validation in client-side applications, particularly those processing untrusted content from external sources. Organizations should implement immediate patch management procedures to upgrade to Evolution version 1.2.4 or later, which contains the necessary fixes for this vulnerability. Additionally, network-level filtering and email content inspection mechanisms can provide additional layers of protection while patches are being deployed, though these measures are not complete solutions and should be combined with proper software updates for comprehensive security coverage.