CVE-2011-1434 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Google Chrome before 11.0.696.57 does not ensure thread safety during handling of MIME data, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/05/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-1434 represents a critical thread safety flaw within Google Chrome's handling of MIME data processing mechanisms. This issue exists in Chrome versions prior to 11.0.696.57 and stems from inadequate synchronization controls during the processing of multipurpose internet mail extensions data. MIME data handling is fundamental to web browser functionality as it determines how different types of content should be interpreted and displayed, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in a browser context where arbitrary content can be encountered.
The technical flaw manifests when Chrome processes MIME data without proper thread synchronization mechanisms, creating potential race conditions and memory access conflicts. When multiple threads attempt to access or modify MIME-related data structures simultaneously, the lack of proper locking or atomic operations can lead to unpredictable behavior. This thread safety violation can result in memory corruption, heap inconsistencies, or other low-level system instability issues that may be exploited by malicious actors to execute arbitrary code or trigger denial of service conditions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial of service scenarios, as the unspecified other impacts mentioned in the description suggest potential for more severe consequences. Attackers could leverage this flaw to execute code within the browser's execution context, potentially leading to complete system compromise depending on the privileges available to the browser process. The vulnerability's exploitation requires remote code execution capabilities since it can be triggered through web content, making it particularly dangerous in the context of modern web browsing where users frequently encounter untrusted content from multiple sources.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-362, which specifically addresses race conditions in concurrent programming, and demonstrates the critical importance of proper thread synchronization in browser security architectures. The issue also maps to ATT&CK technique T1059, which involves executing malicious code through browser-based attacks, and T1499, which covers network denial of service attacks that can be facilitated through browser vulnerabilities. Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected Chrome versions, as the vulnerability represents a significant attack surface that could be exploited for both denial of service and code execution purposes. The remediation strategy should include comprehensive browser updates, along with network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts, while also implementing additional security controls such as content filtering and sandboxing mechanisms to reduce the potential impact of similar future vulnerabilities.