CVE-2008-4340 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Google Chrome 0.2.149.29 and 0.2.149.30 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via an HTML document containing a carriage return ("\r\n\r\n") argument to the window.open function.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/04/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-4340 represents a significant denial of service weakness in Google Chrome versions 0.2.149.29 and 0.2.149.30. This flaw specifically targets the browser's handling of the window.open function when invoked with carriage return characters in its arguments. The vulnerability operates through a carefully crafted HTML document that exploits the browser's memory management system by repeatedly calling window.open with malformed parameters containing carriage return sequences. This particular attack vector demonstrates a fundamental issue in how Chrome processes and validates input parameters for its window.open API implementation.
The technical execution of this vulnerability involves the manipulation of the window.open function's argument parsing mechanism within the browser's JavaScript engine. When Chrome encounters a carriage return character within the window.open function parameters, it fails to properly handle the input validation, leading to excessive memory allocation and consumption patterns that ultimately result in system resource exhaustion. This behavior aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input parameters, and specifically relates to improper input validation within web browser contexts. The flaw essentially creates a memory leak scenario where the browser's memory management system becomes overwhelmed by repeated processing of malformed window.open calls, causing the application to consume excessive resources until system performance degrades significantly.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple browser instability, potentially enabling attackers to perform resource exhaustion attacks against targeted systems. When exploited, this vulnerability allows remote attackers to consume system memory resources at an accelerated rate, effectively creating a denial of service condition that can render the affected browser instance unusable or cause the entire system to become unresponsive. This type of attack directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks through resource exhaustion, and demonstrates how browser-based vulnerabilities can be leveraged to create system-wide impact. The attack requires no special privileges or user interaction beyond visiting a malicious webpage, making it particularly dangerous as it can be automatically exploited through drive-by downloads or malicious web content.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate browser updates to patched versions that address the window.open function parameter validation issues. Organizations should implement web content filtering and sandboxing measures to prevent access to potentially malicious web content that could exploit this vulnerability. Browser security configurations should be reviewed to ensure proper input validation is enforced at multiple levels, including JavaScript engine validation and browser API parameter checking. Additionally, monitoring systems should be implemented to detect unusual memory consumption patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of robust input validation in web browser implementations and underscores the need for comprehensive security testing of browser APIs to prevent similar memory consumption issues that could be exploited for more sophisticated attacks.