CVE-2011-2452 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 (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-2445, CVE-2011-2451, CVE-2011-2453, CVE-2011-2454, CVE-2011-2455, CVE-2011-2459, and CVE-2011-2460.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/26/2021
Adobe Flash Player versions prior to 10.3.183.11 and 11.x before 11.1.102.55 across multiple operating systems and Adobe AIR before 3.1.0.4880 contained a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enabled remote code execution and denial of service attacks. This vulnerability manifested through unspecified attack vectors that differed from several other contemporaneous Flash Player flaws, indicating a distinct code path or memory handling issue within the player's runtime environment. The flaw existed across Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris platforms for the desktop versions, while Android versions required patching beyond 11.1.102.59. The memory corruption vulnerability allowed attackers to manipulate the application's memory space, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or system instability. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and represents a classic heap-based buffer overflow scenario that could be exploited through crafted malicious content delivered via web browsers or other Flash-enabled applications. The attack surface was extensive given Flash Player's widespread deployment across multiple operating systems and platforms, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous for enterprise environments where Flash content was commonly used for multimedia applications, advertisements, and interactive web content. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability could be exploited through drive-by downloads or malicious web pages that loaded Flash content, requiring no user interaction beyond visiting compromised websites. The exploitability of this vulnerability was enhanced by the fact that Flash Player was often enabled by default in web browsers, creating a persistent attack vector that could be leveraged by threat actors to establish persistent access to affected systems. Organizations faced significant operational impact as this vulnerability could be exploited to gain full system control, making it a high-priority target for attackers seeking to compromise enterprise networks and data assets. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would align with techniques such as T1059 for command and scripting interpreter and T1068 for exploit for privilege escalation, as successful exploitation could lead to privilege elevation and persistent access. The remediation strategy required immediate patching of affected Flash Player versions across all supported platforms, with additional network-level mitigations including web application firewalls and content filtering to prevent access to malicious Flash content. Security teams needed to conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all systems running affected Flash versions and implement mandatory patch management policies to prevent future exploitation attempts. The incident highlighted the critical importance of keeping multimedia runtime environments updated, as Flash Player's extensive use in web applications made it a prime target for attackers seeking to exploit memory corruption vulnerabilities across multiple platforms and operating systems.