CVE-2009-2433 in Internet Explorer
Summary
by MITRE
Stack-based buffer overflow in the AddFavorite method in Microsoft Internet Explorer allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) and possibly have unspecified other impact via a long URL in the first argument.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/03/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-2433 represents a critical stack-based buffer overflow flaw within Microsoft Internet Explorer's AddFavorite method implementation. This security weakness resides in the browser's handling of user-supplied input through the first argument of the AddFavorite method, which is typically invoked when users attempt to save web pages to their favorites or bookmarks. The flaw manifests when Internet Explorer processes a malformed URL that exceeds the allocated buffer size, leading to memory corruption that can result in application instability.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through a stack-based buffer overflow condition where an attacker crafts a specially formatted URL containing excessive data in the first argument of the AddFavorite method call. When Internet Explorer attempts to process this oversized input, it writes beyond the bounds of the allocated stack buffer, potentially overwriting adjacent memory locations including return addresses and control data. This memory corruption typically results in an application crash or denial of service condition, effectively preventing legitimate users from accessing the affected browser functionality.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to enterprise environments where Internet Explorer remains in use, as it can be leveraged by remote attackers to disrupt user productivity and potentially serve as a precursor to more sophisticated attacks. The unspecified additional impacts mentioned in the vulnerability description suggest that under certain conditions, this flaw could potentially enable arbitrary code execution or privilege escalation, making it particularly dangerous for targeted attacks. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Internet Explorer including IE 6 through IE 8, representing a substantial attack surface given the widespread deployment of these browser versions in corporate and enterprise environments.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant Microsoft security patches released in response to this vulnerability, disabling the AddFavorite method through group policy configurations, and implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block malicious URL patterns. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121 Stack-based Buffer Overflow, which specifically addresses buffer overflow conditions where data is written beyond the boundaries of stack-allocated buffers. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability could be categorized under T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution and T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter, as it represents an exploitation vector that can lead to arbitrary code execution through client-side browser vulnerabilities. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing browser hardening techniques such as disabling ActiveX controls, implementing sandboxing mechanisms, and ensuring that users operate with minimal privileges to reduce the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts.