CVE-2011-2450 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Flash Player before 10.3.183.11 and 11.x before 11.1.102.55 on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris and before 11.1.102.59 on Android, and Adobe AIR before 3.1.0.4880, allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (heap memory corruption) via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/26/2021
Adobe Flash Player vulnerability CVE-2011-2450 represents a critical heap memory corruption flaw that affected multiple platform versions across Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and Android operating systems. This vulnerability resides within the multimedia framework that powers rich internet applications and multimedia content delivery across web browsers and desktop environments. The flaw manifests through unspecified attack vectors that enable remote code execution or denial of service conditions, making it particularly dangerous for widespread exploitation. The vulnerability specifically impacts Flash Player versions prior to 10.3.183.11 and 11.x versions before 11.1.102.55 on desktop platforms, while Android versions before 11.1.102.59 remain susceptible. Additionally, Adobe AIR versions before 3.1.0.4880 are also affected, extending the attack surface to desktop application environments that utilize Flash technology. The heap memory corruption aspect of this vulnerability aligns with common software security weaknesses identified under CWE-122, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions that can lead to arbitrary code execution. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risk to organizations relying on Flash content for web applications, multimedia presentations, and interactive media delivery. Attackers can exploit this flaw by crafting malicious Flash content that, when loaded by an affected Flash Player instance, triggers the heap corruption and subsequently executes arbitrary code on the target system. The impact extends beyond individual user systems to enterprise environments where Flash Player remains widely deployed for legacy applications and content management systems. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would align with techniques involving exploitation of known vulnerabilities and privilege escalation through memory corruption attacks. Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems to prevent exploitation, as the vulnerability's remote execution capabilities make it particularly attractive to threat actors. The affected platforms represent a broad spectrum of computing environments, from traditional desktop operating systems to mobile platforms, indicating the widespread nature of the potential attack surface. Security teams must conduct comprehensive inventory assessments to identify all instances of vulnerable Flash Player and AIR installations across their networks, ensuring complete remediation of this heap memory corruption vulnerability that could enable full system compromise.
The technical implementation of this heap memory corruption vulnerability stems from improper memory management within the Flash Player runtime environment, particularly in how it handles memory allocation and deallocation for multimedia content processing. This flaw allows attackers to manipulate heap memory structures through carefully crafted Flash content that exploits memory corruption patterns, potentially leading to code execution at the privilege level of the Flash Player process. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the widespread deployment of Flash Player across various operating systems, making it an attractive target for mass exploitation campaigns. Security researchers have identified that the vulnerability can be triggered through multiple vectors including embedded Flash content in web pages, downloadable Flash applications, and potentially through malicious attachments that leverage Flash Player for execution. The exploitation of this vulnerability requires minimal user interaction, as simply viewing a malicious webpage containing compromised Flash content can trigger the memory corruption and subsequent code execution. Organizations should implement network-level protections including web application firewalls and content filtering systems to prevent access to known malicious Flash content while simultaneously deploying endpoint protection measures to detect and block exploitation attempts. The remediation process requires careful coordination across different platforms and versions, as the patching requirements vary between desktop and mobile operating systems. Security professionals must also consider the broader implications of Flash Player deprecation, as Adobe officially ended support for Flash Player in 2020, making this vulnerability increasingly difficult to remediate through standard patching mechanisms. This vulnerability demonstrates the persistent risk associated with legacy software systems and the importance of maintaining up-to-date security controls even for deprecated technologies.