CVE-2011-2612 in Web Browser
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Opera before 11.50 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via unknown content on a web page, as demonstrated by progorod.ru.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/13/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2612 represents a critical security flaw in Opera web browser versions prior to 11.50, specifically categorized under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) 119 which addresses memory safety issues and improper handling of memory operations. This vulnerability manifests as an unspecified weakness that enables remote attackers to trigger application crashes through the injection of malicious content on web pages, effectively creating a denial of service condition that compromises the browser's stability and user experience.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves Opera's insufficient validation mechanisms when processing web content, particularly when encountering malformed or specially crafted elements within HTML documents or associated resources. Attackers can exploit this weakness by hosting malicious content on compromised websites such as the demonstrated progorod.ru domain, where the browser's rendering engine fails to properly handle certain data structures or processing sequences. The flaw likely resides in Opera's HTML parser or rendering components that do not adequately sanitize input before processing, allowing malicious data to cause memory corruption or resource exhaustion that ultimately results in application termination.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to users who may inadvertently visit compromised websites or encounter malicious content through social engineering tactics. The remote nature of the attack means that exploitation does not require local system access or user interaction beyond normal web browsing activities, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where users may encounter untrusted content. The denial of service impact extends beyond individual user inconvenience to potentially disrupt business operations, especially in scenarios where multiple users access the same compromised resources simultaneously, leading to cascading system failures and reduced productivity.
Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in the context of the ATT&CK framework under the T1499 category for network denial of service, where the attack vector involves manipulating application behavior through crafted content. The vulnerability's exploitation demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date browser software and implementing comprehensive web filtering solutions. Organizations should prioritize immediate deployment of Opera 11.50 or later versions, which contain the necessary patches to address the memory handling issues that enable this attack. Additionally, implementing network-level controls such as web application firewalls and content filtering systems can provide additional layers of protection while awaiting full patch deployment across all affected systems.
The remediation approach must include comprehensive testing of patched versions to ensure that the fix does not introduce compatibility issues with legitimate web content, while also establishing monitoring procedures to detect potential exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments should verify that all browser installations within the organization have been updated to versions that contain the appropriate security mitigations. This vulnerability underscores the critical importance of timely patch management and the need for organizations to maintain current security postures against known threats that can be exploited to compromise system availability and user productivity.