CVE-2011-2122 in Shockwave Player
Summary
by MITRE
Dirapi.dll in Adobe Shockwave Player before 11.6.0.626 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors related to rcsL substructures, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-0317, CVE-2011-0318, CVE-2011-0319, CVE-2011-0320, CVE-2011-0335, and CVE-2011-2119.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/19/2025
Adobe Shockwave Player contains a critical memory corruption vulnerability in the dirapi.dll component that affects versions prior to 11.6.0.626. This vulnerability specifically manifests when processing rcsL substructures within Shockwave content, creating a dangerous attack surface that can be exploited to achieve remote code execution or system denial of service. The flaw represents a distinct vulnerability from several related issues including CVE-2011-0317 through CVE-2011-2119, indicating that this represents a unique code path within the Shockwave Player's parsing logic. The memory corruption occurs during the handling of malformed rcsL structures, which are part of the Shockwave file format's internal data organization and typically contain resource management information. When an attacker crafts malicious Shockwave content with specially constructed rcsL substructures, the vulnerable dirapi.dll component fails to properly validate input data, leading to buffer overflows or other memory corruption conditions that can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and CWE-787, which covers out-of-bounds writes, both of which are common manifestations of memory corruption flaws in multimedia processing components. The attack vector typically involves tricking a user into opening a malicious Shockwave file through web browsers or email attachments, making this a prevalent client-side exploitation target. The operational impact extends beyond simple denial of service as successful exploitation can result in complete system compromise, allowing attackers to execute malicious code with the privileges of the affected user. This vulnerability particularly affects systems running older versions of Adobe Shockwave Player where the memory management protections are insufficient to prevent exploitation. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to multiple ATT&CK techniques including T1203, which covers exploitation for execution, and T1059, which covers command and scripting interpreter usage. The vulnerability's persistence in the Shockwave Player ecosystem highlights the challenges of maintaining security in legacy multimedia components and demonstrates the importance of regular security updates for widely deployed software. Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems and consider network segmentation to limit potential exploitation paths. The vulnerability also underscores the need for robust input validation and memory safety practices in multimedia processing libraries, particularly when handling complex file format structures that contain nested subcomponents. Security teams should implement monitoring for suspicious Shockwave file activity and consider disabling Shockwave content in environments where it is not strictly required for business operations.