CVE-2011-2796 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in Skia, as used in Google Chrome before 13.0.782.107, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/12/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2796 represents a critical use-after-free flaw within the Skia graphics library component that forms part of Google Chrome's rendering engine. This issue affects Chrome versions prior to 13.0.782.107 and demonstrates how memory management errors in core graphics libraries can translate into significant security risks for web browsers. The Skia library serves as a fundamental graphics rendering engine responsible for drawing user interface elements, handling image processing, and managing graphical operations within the browser environment. When a use-after-free vulnerability exists in such a critical component, it creates an opportunity for malicious actors to exploit memory corruption patterns that can lead to unpredictable system behavior.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper memory management practices where the Skia library fails to properly track object references after memory deallocation. In a use-after-free scenario, memory that has been freed is still accessed by subsequent operations, creating opportunities for attackers to manipulate the memory layout or inject malicious code. This particular flaw manifests in the graphics rendering subsystem where objects are allocated and subsequently freed during normal browser operation, but the application continues to reference these freed memory locations. The vulnerability operates at a low level within the graphics pipeline, making it particularly challenging to detect and prevent through traditional security measures.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to Chrome users as it can be exploited through remote code execution in certain scenarios. The unspecified other impacts mentioned in the description suggest that beyond simple denial of service, attackers may be able to achieve arbitrary code execution or information disclosure. The attack vectors remain unspecified, indicating that the vulnerability could potentially be triggered through various web content delivery mechanisms including malicious websites, crafted HTML documents, or embedded multimedia content. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it could be exploited through common web browsing activities without requiring user interaction beyond visiting a compromised site.
The security implications extend beyond immediate exploitation capabilities to encompass broader threats to browser stability and user data integrity. Attackers leveraging this vulnerability could potentially disrupt browser functionality through denial of service attacks, or more severely compromise system security through code execution. The vulnerability's presence in a graphics library means that even benign web content could trigger the exploit during normal rendering operations, making detection and prevention particularly challenging. Organizations and users affected by this vulnerability should prioritize immediate remediation through Chrome updates, as the window for exploitation remains open until the patched version is deployed across affected systems.
This vulnerability aligns with common weakness enumerations such as CWE-416, which specifically addresses use-after-free conditions in memory management. The attack patterns associated with this flaw correspond to techniques outlined in the attack tree framework, where memory corruption vulnerabilities serve as entry points for more sophisticated exploitation campaigns. The remediation approach typically involves implementing proper memory management practices, including reference counting mechanisms, smart pointers, or other memory safety techniques that prevent objects from being accessed after deallocation. Additionally, this vulnerability highlights the importance of comprehensive testing for memory safety issues in graphics libraries and core browser components, particularly in environments where multiple subsystems interact through shared memory spaces.