CVE-2010-0209 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Flash Player before 9.0.280 and 10.x before 10.1.82.76, and Adobe AIR before 2.0.3, allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2010-2213, CVE-2010-2214, and CVE-2010-2216.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/25/2025
Adobe Flash Player versions prior to 9.0.280 and 10.x versions before 10.1.82.76, along with Adobe AIR versions before 2.0.3, contained a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enabled remote code execution and denial of service attacks. This vulnerability represented a distinct threat vector from other contemporaneous Flash Player flaws including CVE-2010-2213, CVE-2010-2214, and CVE-2010-2216, indicating multiple attack surfaces within the Flash runtime environment. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that the memory corruption could potentially occur through various code paths within the Flash Player's processing mechanisms, making the vulnerability particularly challenging to defend against and remediate. The flaw manifested as a memory corruption issue that could be exploited by remote attackers to inject malicious code into the target system, effectively bypassing security boundaries and potentially allowing full system compromise. The vulnerability's classification under CWE-125 indicates an out-of-bounds read condition that could lead to memory corruption, while its potential for remote code execution aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter. The memory corruption aspect of this vulnerability typically occurred during the parsing or execution of Flash content, where improper input validation or buffer management allowed attackers to manipulate memory structures and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Flash Player process. This weakness was particularly dangerous because Flash Player was widely deployed across enterprise and consumer environments, making the vulnerability exploitable on a massive scale. The impact extended beyond simple code execution to include denial of service scenarios where memory corruption could cause the Flash Player application to crash or become unresponsive, effectively disrupting legitimate user activities. Organizations running affected versions faced significant risk due to the prevalence of Flash content across web applications, making the exploitation of this vulnerability particularly attractive to threat actors seeking to compromise large user bases. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple Flash Player versions and the separate nature of its exploitation mechanisms from other known vulnerabilities highlighted the complexity of the Flash Player security landscape during this period. This issue underscored the importance of timely patch management and the inherent risks associated with legacy software components that continued to receive widespread usage despite known security weaknesses. The remediation required immediate updates to Flash Player and AIR installations, with organizations needing to conduct comprehensive inventory checks to identify all affected systems and implement security patches across their networks.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability typically involved crafting malicious Flash content that would trigger the memory corruption when processed by the vulnerable Flash Player. Attackers could deliver such payloads through compromised websites, email attachments, or other vectors that would cause the Flash Player to execute the malicious code. The memory corruption aspect of the flaw meant that attackers could potentially overwrite critical memory locations, allowing them to redirect program execution flow and inject their own code into the process. This type of vulnerability is classified as a heap-based buffer overflow or similar memory corruption issue, which can be particularly challenging to detect and prevent due to the complex nature of memory management in runtime environments. The vulnerability's impact was amplified by the fact that Flash Player was often installed with elevated privileges on user systems, meaning that successful exploitation could result in complete system compromise. Security researchers noted that the vulnerability's exploitation required sophisticated techniques due to modern memory protection mechanisms, but the prevalence of affected systems made it a high-value target for attackers. The ATT&CK framework classification for this vulnerability would likely include techniques related to code injection and privilege escalation, while the CWE classification emphasized the underlying memory management flaws that made the exploitation possible. Organizations had to balance the need for immediate patching with the potential disruption to legacy applications that depended on vulnerable Flash Player versions, creating complex operational challenges for security teams managing enterprise environments. The vulnerability demonstrated the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date software and the risks associated with running outdated runtime environments that continue to receive usage despite known security issues.