CVE-2008-7061 in chrome
Summary
by MITRE
The tooltip manager (chrome/views/tooltip_manager.cc) in Google Chrome 0.2.149.29 Build 1798 and possibly other versions before 0.2.149.30 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption or crash) via a tag with a long title attribute, which is not properly handled when displaying a tooltip, a different vulnerability than CVE-2008-6994. NOTE: there is inconsistent information about the environments under which this issue exists.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/11/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-7061 represents a denial of service flaw within Google Chrome's tooltip management system that specifically affects versions prior to 0.2.149.30. This issue resides in the chrome/views/tooltip_manager.cc component which handles the display and management of tooltip elements when users interact with web page elements. The vulnerability manifests when the browser encounters HTML elements containing tags with excessively long title attributes, creating a scenario where the tooltip manager fails to properly process these extended attribute values during tooltip rendering operations.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and boundary checking within the tooltip display mechanism. When a web page contains HTML elements with title attributes exceeding normal length parameters, the tooltip manager attempts to process this data without proper sanitization or length limitations. This processing failure leads to excessive CPU consumption as the system attempts to render tooltips for malformed input, or in some cases results in complete browser crashes due to memory allocation issues or stack overflow conditions. The vulnerability operates at the browser's rendering layer, specifically targeting the user interface components responsible for displaying contextual help text.
The operational impact of CVE-2008-7061 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise user experience and system stability. Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability by crafting malicious web pages containing elements with excessively long title attributes, which when hovered over trigger the vulnerable tooltip manager. This creates a denial of service condition that can consume significant system resources or cause browser crashes, effectively preventing users from accessing normal web browsing functionality. The vulnerability demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-129 Input Validation and CWE-772 Improper Resource Release or Cleanup, as the system fails to properly handle input boundaries and releases resources appropriately during error conditions.
This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for denial of service attacks and represents a classic example of how user interface components can become attack vectors when proper input validation is absent. The inconsistent reporting regarding affected environments suggests that the vulnerability may be dependent on specific system configurations or rendering contexts, potentially making it more challenging to detect and exploit consistently across different user scenarios. Organizations should prioritize updating to Chrome version 0.2.149.30 or later to remediate this vulnerability, as the fix likely includes enhanced input validation and proper boundary checking within the tooltip manager component to prevent excessive resource consumption during tooltip display operations.