CVE-2011-2793 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in Google Chrome before 13.0.782.107 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via vectors related to media selectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/17/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2793 represents a critical use-after-free flaw in Google Chrome browser versions prior to 13.0.782.107. This type of vulnerability occurs when a program continues to reference memory that has already been freed, creating potential pathways for malicious exploitation. The issue specifically manifests within the browser's handling of media selectors, which are CSS elements used to apply styles based on device characteristics or media types. The flaw exists in the browser's rendering engine where improper memory management occurs during the processing of these media selector elements.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-416, which categorizes use-after-free conditions as a common memory safety issue. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious web pages that trigger the problematic code path when Chrome processes media selectors. The attack vector typically involves delivering specially crafted HTML or CSS content that causes the browser to allocate memory for media selector objects, then free that memory while still maintaining references to it. When the application attempts to access the freed memory location, it can result in unpredictable behavior including crashes, memory corruption, or potentially arbitrary code execution depending on the specific circumstances of the memory access.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to users of affected Chrome versions. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can compromise systems simply by visiting malicious websites without requiring any additional user interaction beyond normal browsing. The potential for denial of service represents immediate operational disruption, while the unspecified other impacts suggest possibilities for more severe consequences including privilege escalation or persistent malware installation. The vulnerability affects all users running Chrome versions earlier than 13.0.782.107, making it particularly dangerous given the widespread adoption of the browser.
The remediation approach for this vulnerability centers on immediate browser updates to version 13.0.782.107 or later, which contains the necessary memory management fixes. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management procedures to ensure all affected systems receive updates promptly. Security teams should also consider deploying web application firewalls and content filtering solutions as additional protective measures while awaiting full patch deployment. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of regular security updates and the need for browser vendors to maintain robust memory safety practices. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving memory corruption and privilege escalation, with potential mappings to T1059 for code execution and T1499 for denial of service operations. System administrators should prioritize this update alongside other critical security patches to maintain overall system integrity and prevent potential exploitation in targeted attack campaigns.