CVE-2011-0579 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Flash Player before 10.3.181.14 on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris and before 10.3.185.21 on Android allows attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/07/2021
Adobe Flash Player versions prior to 10.3.181.14 on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris platforms and before 10.3.185.21 on Android systems contained a vulnerability that enabled attackers to extract sensitive information through unspecified vectors. This vulnerability falls under the category of information disclosure flaws that can potentially compromise system security and data integrity. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that multiple pathways existed for exploitation, making the vulnerability particularly concerning from a security perspective. The vulnerability represents a failure in proper input validation and memory management within the Flash Player runtime environment, allowing unauthorized access to system resources and potentially sensitive data stored in memory or accessible through the application's execution context.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability likely involved memory corruption or improper access control mechanisms within the Flash Player's handling of multimedia content and scripting operations. Attackers could leverage this weakness to extract information that should remain confidential, potentially including user credentials, system configuration details, or other sensitive data that applications running within the Flash environment might have access to. The vulnerability's presence across multiple operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and Android indicates a fundamental flaw in the Flash Player's cross-platform implementation that affected a broad user base. This widespread impact aligns with the ATT&CK technique T1005 for data from local system and T1059 for command and scripting interpreter, as exploitation could lead to further system compromise through information gathering activities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as the extracted data could serve as a foundation for more sophisticated attacks. Security researchers and threat actors could use the obtained information to conduct targeted attacks, perform reconnaissance for additional vulnerabilities, or leverage the discovered data in social engineering campaigns. The vulnerability's presence in widely deployed Flash Player versions meant that a significant number of users were potentially exposed to risk, especially in enterprise environments where Flash content was commonly used for web applications and multimedia presentations. Organizations running affected Flash Player versions faced potential exposure to credential theft, system reconnaissance, and data leakage scenarios that could compromise both individual user accounts and corporate network security.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability required immediate patching of affected Flash Player installations across all supported platforms. System administrators needed to ensure that all endpoints running Flash Player were updated to versions 10.3.181.14 or later on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris systems, and 10.3.185.21 or later on Android devices. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts and reviewing access controls for systems that might be vulnerable to information disclosure attacks. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date software libraries and the risks associated with legacy multimedia technologies. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability would likely trigger security audits and assessments under frameworks such as NIST SP 800-53 and ISO 27001, requiring organizations to demonstrate proper patch management and vulnerability remediation processes. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and application whitelisting to reduce the attack surface and limit the potential impact of similar vulnerabilities in the future.