CVE-2011-2850 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Google Chrome before 14.0.835.163 does not properly handle Khmer characters, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/20/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2850 represents a critical out-of-bounds read flaw in Google Chrome versions prior to 14.0.835.163, specifically related to the browser's handling of Khmer script characters. This issue stems from inadequate input validation and memory management within Chrome's text rendering engine, which processes Unicode character sets including the Khmer language script used primarily in Cambodia. The vulnerability manifests when Chrome encounters malformed or improperly structured Khmer characters during page rendering, leading to memory access violations that can trigger system instability.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in Chrome's Unicode processing pipeline where the browser fails to properly validate character boundaries when parsing Khmer text. Khmer characters require specific handling due to their complex combining mark structures and variable-length encoding patterns that differ significantly from Latin-based scripts. When Chrome processes these characters without proper bounds checking, it attempts to read memory locations beyond the allocated buffer boundaries, resulting in an out-of-bounds read condition. This flaw operates at the intersection of text rendering and memory management components, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited through web content without requiring user interaction beyond visiting a malicious webpage.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a significant denial of service risk that can be leveraged by remote attackers to disrupt Chrome browser functionality. The out-of-bounds read condition can cause Chrome to crash or behave unpredictably, effectively denying users access to web content and potentially providing a foothold for more sophisticated attacks. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers can craft malicious web pages containing specially crafted Khmer characters that trigger the flaw when rendered by an affected browser version. This creates a vector for both availability attacks and potential privilege escalation scenarios, particularly when combined with other browser vulnerabilities.
The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption as it demonstrates fundamental flaws in Chrome's Unicode processing architecture that could be exploited in broader attack scenarios. The flaw aligns with CWE-129, which describes improper validation of length of input buffers, and represents a classic example of how international character set support can introduce security vulnerabilities when not properly validated. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability fits within the ATT&CK framework's technique T1059 for command and control through browser-based exploitation, and T1499 for network denial of service attacks. Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected Chrome versions to prevent exploitation, as the vulnerability does not require any special privileges or user interaction beyond visiting malicious web content. The remediation process involves updating to Chrome version 14.0.835.163 or later, which includes proper bounds checking and validation for Khmer character processing, thereby closing the memory access violation that enables the denial of service condition.