CVE-2010-3793 in Mac OS X
Summary
by MITRE
QuickTime in Apple Mac OS X 10.6.x before 10.6.5 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) via a crafted Sorenson movie file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/05/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-3793 represents a critical memory corruption flaw within Apple's QuickTime media framework that affected Mac OS X versions 10.6.x prior to 10.6.5. This issue stems from inadequate input validation and memory management within the Sorenson codec processing component of QuickTime, which is responsible for handling video content encoded with Sorenson codec formats. The vulnerability demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and CWE-787, which covers out-of-bounds writes, both of which are common vectors for arbitrary code execution in multimedia processing libraries.
The technical flaw manifests when QuickTime processes a maliciously crafted Sorenson movie file that contains malformed or oversized data structures within its metadata or video stream. When the media framework attempts to parse and render this crafted content, it fails to properly validate the boundaries of memory allocations, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected application. The vulnerability can be triggered through various attack vectors including email attachments, web downloads, or network file transfers where users unknowingly open or play the malicious media file.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple application crashes to potentially enable full system compromise. Remote attackers can leverage this vulnerability to execute malicious code on targeted systems without requiring user interaction beyond the initial opening of the compromised media file. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where users may inadvertently encounter malicious content through email or web browsing activities. The vulnerability affects the core QuickTime framework, meaning that any application relying on QuickTime for media playback, including web browsers and media applications, becomes a potential attack surface.
Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in the context of the ATT&CK framework's T1203 technique, which involves exploiting software vulnerabilities to gain remote code execution capabilities. The vulnerability's exploitation potential aligns with the ATT&CK matrix's application layer exploitation categories, where attackers target commonly used software components to establish persistent access. Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems, as Apple released security updates specifically addressing this vulnerability in the 10.6.5 update. Additional mitigations include implementing strict email and web content filtering, disabling automatic media playback, and maintaining awareness of social engineering techniques that might deliver malicious QuickTime content through phishing campaigns. The vulnerability highlights the importance of regular security updates and proper input validation in multimedia processing frameworks, particularly those handling complex codec formats that require extensive memory manipulation during decoding operations.