CVE-2009-0799 in CUPS
Summary
by MITRE
The JBIG2 decoder in Xpdf 3.02pl2 and earlier, CUPS 1.3.9 and earlier, Poppler before 0.10.6, and other products allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted PDF file that triggers an out-of-bounds read.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/14/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-0799 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting multiple PDF processing libraries and applications. This issue resides within the JBIG2 decoder component that handles the decompression of JBIG2 encoded images commonly found in PDF documents. The vulnerability manifests when these applications process maliciously crafted PDF files that contain specially constructed JBIG2 data streams designed to trigger memory access violations.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate bounds checking within the JBIG2 decoding routines. When processing malformed JBIG2 data, the decoder fails to properly validate array indices or buffer boundaries before accessing memory locations. This leads to out-of-bounds memory reads where the application attempts to access memory outside the allocated buffer space, causing the software to crash or terminate unexpectedly. The flaw operates at the intersection of software security and memory management, specifically categorized under CWE-129 as improper validation of array indices and CWE-787 as out-of-bounds write operations that can lead to crashes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends across multiple platforms and applications that rely on PDF processing capabilities. Systems running affected versions of Xpdf, CUPS, Poppler, and other PDF rendering libraries become susceptible to remote exploitation by attackers who can craft malicious PDF documents. This creates a significant risk for organizations that process untrusted PDF content, including web applications, email servers, and document management systems. The vulnerability can be exploited through simple web-based attacks where users unknowingly open malicious PDF files, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise and public environments.
The exploitability of this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1203 by leveraging application weaknesses to achieve remote code execution or service disruption. Organizations utilizing affected software components face potential business disruption through system crashes, service unavailability, and increased administrative overhead for patch management. The vulnerability demonstrates how legacy code implementations in multimedia processing components can introduce security risks that persist across multiple software distributions and versions.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patch application to all affected software versions, implementing strict input validation for PDF processing pipelines, and deploying network-based intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious PDF content. System administrators should also consider implementing sandboxing mechanisms for PDF processing, regular security updates, and comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify other potentially affected components in their software stack. The remediation process requires careful testing to ensure patches do not introduce compatibility issues while maintaining the security posture against this specific denial of service vector.