CVE-2011-1198 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
The video functionality in Google Chrome before 10.0.648.127 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors that trigger use of a malformed "out-of-bounds structure."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/19/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-1198 represents a critical security flaw in Google Chrome's video handling mechanisms that existed prior to version 10.0.648.127. This issue specifically targets the browser's multimedia processing capabilities and demonstrates how seemingly benign media playback functions can be exploited to create significant operational disruptions. The vulnerability manifests through the improper handling of malformed video structures, particularly those that reference out-of-bounds memory locations during video decoding and rendering processes.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and memory management within Chrome's video processing pipeline. When the browser encounters video content with malformed structures, particularly those that reference memory locations beyond the allocated boundaries, the application fails to properly handle these conditions. This improper handling can lead to memory corruption issues that may result in browser crashes or more severe system instability. The vulnerability's classification as potentially enabling unspecified other impacts suggests that beyond simple denial of service, there could be opportunities for more sophisticated exploitation techniques that leverage the memory corruption for privilege escalation or code execution.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to users who frequently access web content containing multimedia elements. The remote attack vector means that malicious actors can exploit this flaw through standard web browsing activities without requiring any special privileges or user interaction beyond visiting a compromised website. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the out-of-bounds structure access could potentially be leveraged to execute arbitrary code within the browser context, making it particularly dangerous for users who browse untrusted websites regularly.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions in software systems, and demonstrates how multimedia processing components can introduce memory safety issues. Security researchers have noted that such flaws often appear in complex multimedia libraries where buffer management becomes particularly challenging due to the variable nature of media formats and the need for efficient processing. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under software exploitation techniques, specifically targeting browser rendering engines and multimedia processing components as attack surfaces.
Organizations and individual users should prioritize immediate remediation by updating to Chrome version 10.0.648.127 or later, which includes patches addressing the memory handling issues in video processing. System administrators should also consider implementing additional security measures such as content filtering and sandboxing mechanisms to limit the potential impact of similar vulnerabilities. The incident underscores the importance of regular security updates and continuous monitoring of browser security patches, particularly for applications handling multimedia content that can be easily exploited through web-based attacks.