CVE-2011-2851 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Google Chrome before 14.0.835.163 does not properly handle video, 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-2011-2851 represents a critical out-of-bounds read flaw in Google Chrome versions prior to 14.0.835.163. This issue specifically manifests within the browser's video handling mechanisms, where improper memory management allows malicious actors to exploit memory access violations. The vulnerability falls under the category of memory safety issues and demonstrates how multimedia processing components can introduce significant security risks to web browsers.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the improper handling of video data structures within Chrome's rendering engine. When processing video content, the browser fails to properly validate input boundaries, leading to memory access violations that can trigger out-of-bounds reads. This flaw enables attackers to craft malicious video content that, when loaded in Chrome, causes the browser to attempt reading memory locations beyond the allocated buffer boundaries. Such memory corruption can result in unpredictable behavior including application crashes, which constitutes a denial of service condition.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to users who browse the web without up-to-date security patches. The remote attack vector means that users can be exploited simply by visiting compromised websites or viewing malicious video content embedded in web pages. The denial of service impact extends beyond simple browser crashes to potentially enabling more sophisticated attacks if combined with other vulnerabilities. This type of vulnerability is particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where browser stability and security are paramount for maintaining productivity and protecting sensitive data.
The vulnerability demonstrates the inherent complexity of multimedia processing within modern browsers and highlights the importance of rigorous input validation and memory safety practices. This issue aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and represents a classic example of how multimedia libraries can introduce security weaknesses into applications. The attack surface is particularly broad given that video content is ubiquitous on the modern web, making this vulnerability highly exploitable across various threat scenarios. Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected Chrome versions and implement network-level protections to mitigate potential exploitation attempts.
Security researchers have noted that this vulnerability represents a fundamental flaw in Chrome's memory management during video processing, where the browser fails to properly validate the size and structure of incoming video data before processing it. The lack of proper bounds checking in the video decoding pipeline creates opportunities for attackers to manipulate memory access patterns and trigger the out-of-bounds read condition. This type of vulnerability is particularly concerning because it can potentially be chained with other exploits to achieve arbitrary code execution, though the immediate impact is limited to denial of service. The vulnerability also underscores the importance of regular security updates and the need for browser vendors to implement comprehensive memory safety testing for multimedia components.