CVE-2010-3637 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
An unspecified ActiveX control in Adobe Flash Player before 9.0.289.0 and 10.x before 10.1.102.64 (Flash10h.ocx) on Windows allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted FLV video.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/28/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-3637 represents a critical security flaw in Adobe Flash Player's ActiveX control implementation that affected versions prior to 9.0.289.0 and 10.x versions before 10.1.102.64. This issue specifically impacts the Flash10h.ocx component on Windows operating systems and demonstrates a classic memory corruption vulnerability that could be exploited through maliciously crafted FLV video files. The vulnerability exists within the ActiveX control's handling of multimedia content, creating a dangerous attack surface that could be leveraged by remote threat actors to compromise affected systems.
The technical flaw stems from improper input validation and memory management within the Flash Player's ActiveX control when processing FLV (Flash Video) files. When a user encounters a maliciously crafted FLV video file, the ActiveX control fails to properly validate the file structure and content, leading to memory corruption that can result in arbitrary code execution or denial of service conditions. This memory corruption occurs during the parsing and rendering of video data, where buffer overflows or other memory handling errors allow attackers to manipulate the execution flow of the Flash Player process. The vulnerability is classified as a memory corruption issue that aligns with CWE-121 and CWE-125 categories, representing heap-based buffer overflows and out-of-bounds reads that can be exploited to gain unauthorized system access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it enables remote code execution capabilities that can be leveraged by attackers to compromise user systems without requiring local access. The attack vector through FLV video files makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous because multimedia content is commonly encountered through web browsers, email attachments, and various online platforms. Once exploited, the vulnerability can allow attackers to execute malicious code with the privileges of the Flash Player process, potentially leading to full system compromise. The denial of service component of this vulnerability can also be used to disrupt legitimate services by causing the Flash Player to crash or become unresponsive, creating availability issues for affected users.
Organizations and users must implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability, including updating to the patched versions of Adobe Flash Player that resolve the memory corruption issues in the Flash10h.ocx ActiveX control. The recommended approach involves deploying the official security patches released by Adobe that correct the input validation flaws and memory handling errors within the Flash Player component. System administrators should also consider implementing network-level controls to restrict access to potentially malicious multimedia content and disable Flash Player functionality where possible. The vulnerability's classification under ATT&CK technique T1203 (Exploitation for Client Execution) highlights the need for comprehensive endpoint protection measures including behavioral monitoring and application whitelisting to prevent exploitation attempts. Additionally, user education regarding the dangers of opening untrusted multimedia content remains critical in reducing the attack surface for this and similar vulnerabilities.