CVE-2010-2877 in Shockwave Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Shockwave Player before 11.5.8.612 does not properly validate a count value in a Director movie, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap memory corruption) or execute arbitrary code via a crafted movie, related to IML32X.dll and DIRAPIX.dll.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/24/2021
Adobe Shockwave Player version 11.5.8.612 and earlier contains a critical vulnerability in its handling of Director movie files that stems from improper validation of count values within the file structure. This vulnerability resides in the IML32X.dll and DIRAPIX.dll components of the Shockwave runtime environment, which are responsible for processing and rendering Director movies. The flaw occurs when the player encounters a malformed movie file containing an invalid count parameter that exceeds expected bounds, leading to heap memory corruption during processing. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-129 weakness category, which specifically addresses improper validation of input data that can result in buffer overflows and memory corruption issues.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to craft a malicious Director movie file with a manipulated count value that triggers the memory corruption when processed by the vulnerable Shockwave Player. When the player attempts to parse this malformed file, the insufficient validation in the IML32X.dll and DIRAPIX.dll libraries causes the application to write data beyond allocated memory boundaries, potentially resulting in heap corruption. This memory corruption can manifest as either a denial of service condition where the application crashes and becomes unresponsive, or more critically, it can be exploited to execute arbitrary code on the target system. The vulnerability's remote exploitation capability means that attackers can deliver malicious content through web browsers or other applications that utilize Shockwave Player for media playback.
The operational impact of CVE-2010-2877 extends beyond simple system instability, as it represents a significant security risk that could enable attackers to gain unauthorized access to affected systems. The vulnerability affects all versions of Adobe Shockwave Player prior to 11.5.8.612, making it a widespread concern for organizations that have not updated their Shockwave installations. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability aligns with the ATT&CK technique T1203 - Exploitation for Client Execution, where adversaries leverage software vulnerabilities to execute malicious code on target systems. The heap-based memory corruption presents a particularly dangerous attack surface because it can be leveraged to bypass security controls such as DEP (Data Execution Prevention) and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) through techniques like return-oriented programming or function pointer overwrites.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation of this vulnerability by updating to Adobe Shockwave Player version 11.5.8.612 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the improper count value validation. System administrators should also implement network-level controls to block access to known malicious Shockwave content and consider disabling Shockwave Player entirely in environments where it is not required for business operations. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation in multimedia processing libraries and highlights the need for robust memory safety practices in application development. Security monitoring should focus on detecting attempts to access Shockwave content from untrusted sources, as well as monitoring for unusual application crashes or memory allocation patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts.