CVE-2010-3650 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 9.0.289.0 and 10.x before 10.1.102.64 on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris, and 10.1.95.1 on Android, allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unknown vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2010-3640, CVE-2010-3641, CVE-2010-3642, CVE-2010-3643, CVE-2010-3644, CVE-2010-3645, CVE-2010-3646, CVE-2010-3647, CVE-2010-3648, CVE-2010-3649, and CVE-2010-3652.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/28/2021
Adobe Flash Player versions prior to 9.0.289.0 and 10.x before 10.1.102.64 on multiple operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris, as well as version 10.1.95.1 on Android, 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 recently disclosed Flash Player flaws, indicating a separate code path or implementation issue within the player's memory management systems. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that multiple exploit techniques could potentially trigger the memory corruption, making the vulnerability particularly dangerous as attackers could leverage various methods to compromise systems. The vulnerability's presence across multiple platforms demonstrates the widespread impact of the flaw, as it affected desktop operating systems and mobile platforms alike, creating a broad attack surface for threat actors.
The memory corruption aspect of this vulnerability aligns with common software security weaknesses categorized under CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions that can lead to memory corruption. This type of vulnerability typically occurs when the Flash Player fails to properly validate memory access operations during content rendering, particularly when processing maliciously crafted multimedia files or web content. Attackers could potentially exploit this issue by crafting specially designed flash content that would cause the player to access memory locations outside of its allocated boundaries, leading to unpredictable behavior including arbitrary code execution. The denial of service component indicates that even successful exploitation might not always result in complete system compromise, but could still render the affected system unstable or unresponsive, making it a versatile threat vector.
From an operational security perspective, this vulnerability presented significant risk to organizations relying on Flash Player for web content delivery, particularly in enterprise environments where users frequently accessed untrusted web content through browsers. The vulnerability's presence in multiple Flash Player versions meant that organizations needed to urgently patch their systems across different platforms, creating operational challenges for security teams managing diverse IT infrastructures. The fact that this vulnerability existed alongside several other Flash Player flaws suggests a broader pattern of security issues within the software's architecture, potentially indicating inadequate input validation or memory management practices. Security professionals needed to prioritize this vulnerability in their risk assessment processes, as it could be exploited through web browsers without requiring user interaction beyond visiting compromised websites.
The exploitation of this vulnerability would likely fall under ATT&CK technique T1203, which involves the use of legitimate system tools or applications to execute malicious code. Organizations needed to implement immediate mitigations including disabling Flash Player in browsers, deploying patches to update to secure versions, and monitoring network traffic for exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification as a memory corruption issue also suggests that exploit development would likely involve techniques such as heap spraying or return-oriented programming to achieve reliable code execution. Security teams should have implemented network-based intrusion detection systems to monitor for exploitation attempts and considered endpoint protection solutions that could detect and prevent execution of malicious Flash content. The vulnerability's cross-platform nature required comprehensive patch management strategies that addressed multiple operating systems and mobile platforms, emphasizing the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches across all supported environments.