CVE-2010-3654 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
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, and authplay.dll (aka AuthPlayLib.bundle or libauthplay.so.0.0.0) in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x through 9.4, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) via crafted SWF content, as exploited in the wild in October 2010.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/17/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical memory corruption flaw in Adobe Flash Player and Acrobat Reader that enabled remote code execution through malicious SWF content. The vulnerability affected multiple platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and Android systems, making it particularly dangerous due to its broad attack surface. The flaw existed in versions prior to 9.0.289.0 for Flash Player 9 and 10.1.102.64 for Flash Player 10, while Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 9.x through 9.4 were also impacted through the authplay.dll component. This vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild during October 2010, demonstrating its significance as a real-world threat that required immediate attention from security professionals.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper memory handling within the Flash Player and Acrobat components when processing specially crafted SWF files. Attackers could construct malicious SWF content that would trigger buffer overflows or other memory corruption issues during the parsing process. These memory corruption flaws allowed attackers to overwrite critical memory locations, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution or causing application crashes that resulted in denial of service conditions. The vulnerability specifically targeted the authentication playback library components that handle SWF content processing, making it particularly effective against systems that relied on Adobe's multimedia framework for content delivery.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was severe and far-reaching across enterprise and individual computing environments. Organizations that had Adobe Flash Player or Acrobat installed on their systems were immediately at risk of compromise, as the vulnerability could be exploited through web browsers, email attachments, or any application that processed SWF content. The widespread use of Flash Player in web browsers made this vulnerability particularly dangerous, as users could be compromised simply by visiting malicious websites or viewing infected content. The memory corruption nature of the vulnerability meant that successful exploitation could result in complete system compromise or denial of service conditions that disrupted business operations.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability required immediate patching of affected Adobe products, with security updates released by Adobe to address the memory corruption issues. System administrators needed to deploy patches across all affected platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and Android environments. The vulnerability highlighted the importance of keeping multimedia frameworks updated and implementing network security measures such as content filtering and sandboxing to limit the impact of similar future exploits. Organizations should have also considered disabling Flash Player in browsers where it was not essential, implementing application whitelisting policies, and monitoring for suspicious network activity that might indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability underscored the need for comprehensive vulnerability management programs and the importance of staying current with vendor security advisories. The attack pattern aligned with common exploit techniques documented in cybersecurity frameworks and demonstrated the persistent threat landscape that organizations faced during this period of increased targeted attacks against widely used software components.