CVE-2011-2879 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Google Chrome before 14.0.835.202 does not properly consider object lifetimes and thread safety during the handling of audio nodes, which 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 • 11/23/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2879 represents a critical thread safety and object lifetime management flaw within Google Chrome's Web Audio API implementation. This issue affects Chrome versions prior to 14.0.835.202 and stems from improper handling of audio node objects within the browser's multi-threaded architecture. The flaw manifests when the browser processes audio nodes in a manner that does not adequately account for the complex interactions between different threads and the lifecycle management of objects, creating potential attack vectors that could be exploited by remote adversaries.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the browser's audio processing subsystem where audio nodes are manipulated across multiple threads without proper synchronization mechanisms. When Chrome handles audio nodes, it creates a complex web of object references and memory management that becomes compromised when thread safety protocols are not properly enforced. This mismanagement can lead to race conditions where objects are accessed or modified by multiple threads simultaneously, potentially resulting in memory corruption or undefined behavior. The vulnerability specifically targets the Web Audio API which is part of the HTML5 specification and allows web applications to process and synthesize audio in real-time through JavaScript.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to users of affected Chrome versions as remote attackers can leverage the flaw to trigger denial of service conditions that effectively crash the browser or render it unstable. The unspecified other impacts mentioned in the description suggest that beyond simple service disruption, the vulnerability could potentially enable more sophisticated attacks such as arbitrary code execution or information disclosure. The multi-threaded nature of the flaw means that attackers could craft malicious web pages that, when loaded in Chrome, would exploit the improper object lifetime management to cause system instability or potentially escalate privileges. This represents a classic example of a memory safety vulnerability that can be exploited through web-based attack vectors, making it particularly dangerous in the context of modern browser environments where users frequently visit untrusted websites.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-362, which describes concurrent execution using shared resource vulnerabilities, and demonstrates how improper thread synchronization can lead to security issues. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability would be categorized under technique T1059 for command and script interpreter usage, as attackers could potentially leverage the instability to execute malicious code through compromised audio processing functions. The remediation strategy focuses primarily on updating to Chrome version 14.0.835.202 or later where proper thread safety mechanisms have been implemented to manage audio node lifecycles. Organizations should also implement network-level protections such as web application firewalls and content filtering systems to prevent access to known malicious sites that might exploit this vulnerability. Browser vendors and security teams should prioritize patch management programs to ensure all users are protected against this class of memory safety vulnerabilities that can be exploited through web-based attack vectors.