CVE-2011-0501 in Music Animation Machine MIDI Player
Summary
by MITRE
Stack-based buffer overflow in Music Animation Machine MIDI Player 2006aug19 Release 035 and possibly other versions allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a long line in a .mamx file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/02/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-0501 represents a critical stack-based buffer overflow flaw within the Music Animation Machine MIDI Player software version 2006aug19 Release 035 and potentially other variants in the product line. This vulnerability resides in the file parsing functionality of the application, specifically when processing .mamx files that contain malformed data structures. The issue arises from insufficient input validation mechanisms that fail to properly check the length of data elements before copying them into fixed-size stack buffers during file processing operations.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through user-assisted remote attack vectors where an attacker can craft a malicious .mamx file containing an excessively long line of data. When the vulnerable application attempts to parse this malformed file, the overly long input data overflows the predetermined stack buffer space allocated for processing the line content. This buffer overflow condition corrupts adjacent memory locations including return addresses and control data, enabling attackers to redirect program execution flow. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121 Stack-based Buffer Overflow, which specifically addresses buffer overflows occurring in stack memory regions where insufficient bounds checking allows data to overwrite adjacent memory locations.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant security implications for systems running the affected Music Animation Machine MIDI Player software. The remote execution capability means that attackers can potentially compromise systems without requiring local access, making the attack surface particularly dangerous in networked environments. The user-assisted nature of the attack suggests that social engineering may be required to convince users to open the malicious file, but once executed, the vulnerability can lead to complete system compromise. Attackers leveraging this vulnerability could potentially execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected application, which typically runs with the permissions of the user who initiated the program.
The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond immediate code execution capabilities to encompass potential privilege escalation and persistent system compromise. Systems utilizing the affected software may become vulnerable to full system takeover, data exfiltration, or deployment of additional malicious payloads. The attack vector through .mamx files indicates that this vulnerability affects multimedia processing applications that handle custom file formats, suggesting similar issues may exist in other applications that fail to implement proper input validation for structured data formats. Organizations should consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit potential exploitation, while also ensuring that all software components are kept current with security patches and updates. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input validation in preventing buffer overflow exploits and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for Command and Scripting Interpreter, as successful exploitation would enable adversaries to execute arbitrary commands on compromised systems.