CVE-2011-0622 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 execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-0619, CVE-2011-0620, and CVE-2011-0621.
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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 devices contained a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enabled remote code execution and denial of service attacks. This vulnerability represents a distinct security flaw from other related issues such as CVE-2011-0619, CVE-2011-0620, and CVE-2011-0621, indicating multiple attack surfaces within the Flash Player runtime environment. The unspecified attack vectors suggest that this vulnerability could be triggered through various means including malformed multimedia content, malicious web pages, or specially crafted Flash files that exploit memory handling flaws in the player's execution environment.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper memory management within Flash Player's runtime engine, where attackers could manipulate memory structures through crafted input that leads to buffer overflows, heap corruption, or other memory-related exploits. This type of vulnerability typically falls under CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and CWE-787, which covers out-of-bounds write operations. The memory corruption occurs when the Flash Player processes malicious content without proper bounds checking or input validation, allowing attackers to overwrite memory locations and potentially execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Flash Player process.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial of service scenarios to include full system compromise potential. Attackers could leverage this flaw to execute malicious code on vulnerable systems, potentially gaining unauthorized access, installing malware, or performing privilege escalation attacks. The cross-platform nature of the vulnerability means that organizations using Flash Player across multiple operating systems face identical risks, making this a particularly dangerous flaw in enterprise environments where Flash content is commonly used for web applications, multimedia presentations, and interactive content. The vulnerability's presence in both desktop and mobile platforms creates additional attack surface considerations for organizations managing diverse device ecosystems.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including mandatory Flash Player updates to patched versions, network-level restrictions on Flash content delivery, and comprehensive security monitoring to detect exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007, which covers scripting through web shells, and T1203, which addresses legitimate user execution through web applications. Security teams should deploy network segmentation to limit Flash Player access, implement application whitelisting policies, and conduct regular vulnerability assessments to identify remaining exposures. Additionally, organizations should consider migrating away from Flash-based content entirely, as Adobe officially discontinued Flash Player support in 2020, making continued reliance on this technology increasingly risky. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date software patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect against zero-day exploits targeting widely used software components.